Swimming pool safety tips for parents
Keep your pool covered with an approved safety/pool net when not in use.
With the lockdown having been extended until the end of April and everyone staying indoors as best they can, ER24 would like to encourage everyone to remain safe while at home.
“Although we’ve seen fewer vehicle collisions on the road, we have seen several incidents involving children, whether in swimming pools or in the house.
“It is not possible to speculate on the exact reasons for these incidents and if they are directly attributed to the lockdown.
“Incidents at home occur regularly, lockdown or no lockdown. We’ve seen some incidents where children have been involved in incidents at home, not only at the swimming pool.
“This could be because children are spending a lot more time at home and sometimes may not be supervised appropriately.
“If you do have the option of working from home, it is important to ensure that your children are supervised at all times.
“If you are an essential worker and can’t be at home, adult supervision should still be enforced at home,” said Russel Meiring, ER24 spokesperson.
Safety tips if you have a swimming pool at home:
• Keep your pool covered with an approved safety/pool net when not in use. It is a good idea to put a fence around your pool if it is not fenced.
• If children are swimming, make sure there is adult supervision.
• Secure your pool area with appropriate barriers. Barriers that can’t be pushed down by little children.
• Stay within arm’s length from little children as they submerge very quickly – especially if the water is murky.
• Make sure children don’t play rough in the pool and jump on top of one another.
• It is important that adults who supervise must be able to swim as well.
Familiarise yourself with the emergency numbers in your area as there are different numbers to dial for different essential services. In case of a medical emergency, you can also dial 084 124 anywhere in South Africa.
* Issued by ER24
