Don’t Duck Out. Make It SAFE Water Safety Education Campaign
Making a splash with portable pool safety
South Australians are being reminded about the dangers of portable pools.
Young children can drown in only 3cm of water, and silently within just 20 seconds.
Parents and carers need to follow this important advice to help keep children safe over the summer.
- Supervise. Actively watch children and keep them within arm’s reach at all times. Don’t leave older children in charge of younger children as they may not recognise the signs of drowning.
- Act. Learn CPR – know to start compressions and breaths as soon as possible when a child is pulled from the water and to call triple zero (000) for help. If possible, shout for someone to call triple zero while you do CPR.
- Fence. In SA, portable pools with a depth of 30cm or more must be fenced. Check with your local council for pool fencing requirements.
- Empty. For pools that don’t need to be fenced, keep watch all day, then drain and deflate the pool. Store it in a place where children can’t access it and the pool can’t refill with rain or sprinkler water.
The ‘Don’t Duck Out, Make It SAFE’ initiative takes place each summer because on average one child dies from drowning in a portable pool each year, with other kids needing hospital treatment and some suffering permanent brain damage. The national safety campaign involves consumer protection / product safety regulators, including Consumer and Business Services (CBS), and the Royal Life Saving Society – Australia.
Under the Australian Consumer Law, all portable pools must have warning labels drawing the buyer’s attention to the drowning risk. This applies to small blow-up pools, plastic paddling pools, bigger wading pools, inflatable spas and high-sided flexible plastic pools on a frame.
Don’t duck out of the responsibilities that come with having a portable pool. For more tips to protect your family this summer visit the Make It Safe website.
For more information and all enquiries please visit the Make It Safe website.
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
Image Source: images supplied
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