Safety Tips

Swimming pools and spas are great places for family fun. It’s important to ensure everyone follows these simple safety steps to stay safer in and around the water.

Learn How to Keep Children Safer Around Pools and Spas

1. Supervise Children: Always watch children in or near water, never leave them unattended.

Always watch children when they’re in or near water, and never leave them unattended. Designate an official Water Watcher, an adult tasked with supervising children in the water. That should be their only task – they shouldn’t be reading, texting or playing games on their phone. Have a phone close by at all times in case you need to call for help, and if a child is missing, check the pool first.

Even if a lifeguard is present, parents and caregivers should still take the responsibility of being a designated Water Watcher. When any lifeguard chair is empty, the remaining lifeguards may not be able to see the entire pool and when lifeguards are seated in low chairs, their view can be blocked by patrons in the pool.

2. Learn to Swim: Teach children how to swim.

Swimming is not only fun, it’s a lifesaving skill. Enroll children in swimming lessons; there are many free or reduced-cost options available from your local YMCA, USA Swimming chapter or Parks and Recreation Department.

3. Know Your Drains: Teach children to stay away from drains.

Do not play or swim near drains or suction outlets, especially in spas and shallow pools, and never enter a pool or spa that has a loose, broken or missing drain cover. Children’s hair, limbs, jewelry or bathing suits can get stuck in a drain or suction opening. When using a spa, be sure to locate the emergency vacuum shutoff before getting in the water.

4. Ensure Compliance: Ensure all pools and spas have compliant drain covers.

Virginia Graeme Baker, after whom the Pool and Spa Safety Act is named, died from drowning due to a suction entrapment from a faulty drain cover. All public pools and spas must have drain grates or covers that meet safety standards to avoid incidents like the one that took Graeme’s life. Powerful suction from a pool or spa drain can even trap an adult.

5. Install Safety Devices: Install barriers, covers and alarms.

Proper fences, barriers, alarms and covers can be lifesaving devices. A fence of at least four feet in height should surround the pool or spa on all sides and should not be climbable for children. The water should only be accessible through a self-closing, self-latching gate. Teach children to never try to climb over the gate or fence. Install a door alarm from the house to the pool area, and keep pool and spa covers in working order.

6. Get Certified: Know how to perform CPR on children and adults.

Often, bystanders are the first to aid a drowning victim, so learning CPR can help save a life. And once you’re CPR certified, make sure to keep your certification current. CPR classes are available through many hospitals, community centers, or by contacting the American Red Cross.

7. Take the Pledge: Take the Pool Safely Pledge!

Before heading to the pool or spa with your family, remember to take the Pool Safely Pledge. This online call to action is a reminder to stay safer around the water.

The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act (P&SS Act)

virginia-graeme-baker The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act (P&SS Act), the law which founded the Pool Safely campaign, takes its name from Virginia Graeme Baker, a seven-year-old girl who drowned after she was trapped under water by the powerful suction from a hot tub drain.

Despite being a member of her community swim and diving team, Graeme became stuck to a hot tub drain and was unable to pull herself free. Efforts by her mother to pull Graeme from the drain proved unsuccessful. The two men who eventually freed Graeme from the spa pulled so hard that the drain cover broke from the force. Graeme died from drowning, but the real cause of her death was suction entrapment due to a faulty drain cover.

After her tragic death, her mother, Nancy Baker, worked tirelessly to advocate for pool and spa safety. Mrs. Baker, her family and Safe Kids Worldwide actively lobbied Congress to win support for a law to require anti-entrapment drain covers and other safety devices, as needed. The statute, which was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, was signed into law by the President in December 2007.

It is in Graeme’s memory that we encourage all families to follow the Pool Safely simple steps – because you never know which step will safe a life until it does.

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