What Are The Major Reasons For Swimming Accidents?

Major Reasons For Swimming Accidents

Swimming can be a dangerous activity if not performed correctly and safely. There is no exception to this rule. Swimming accidents don’t just happen to professional swimmers, in fact they are pretty common for ordinary people too. Unlike other areas, swimming accidents are scarier and more dangerous in nature. In this blog, we discuss what are the major reasons for swimming accidents?

 

We highly believe that the best way to deal with accidents is to prevent them. With swimming accidents having the potential to be lethal, we think it is very important to know about the major reasons that cause swimming accidents. 

 

 

Swimming Pool Ladder

 

 

Swimming accidents in pools

 

As a first step we need to make a distinction between swimming accidents that occur in pools and swimming accidents that occur in nature. Starting with the pools:

 

Lack Safety Protocols: Most swimming pools see a huge number of accidents every year. To prevent this from happening there are many methods pool owners use. Safeguarding is the first one most people think of.

 

Swimming accidents can happen at any time, and it is best to be prepared. Lack of safety protocols is one of the main causes of swimming accidents. This can be present on both sides. Some pools lack safety protocols, meanwhile sometimes people don’t follow them.  

 

Improper Maintenance: For a pool to be safe, it needs to be properly maintained. Loose tiles, a damaged diving board, unsafe drainage, and so on. These could all result in painful physical injuries, or even worse.

 

When it comes to private pools, maintenance is still a huge cause of swimming accidents. Here we see mostly children being affected. Other than improper maintenance, lack of supervision is also very high regarding the causes of swimming accidents in private pools.

 

Electricity: Our lives are very tightly connected to our devices. So much so that a lot of people bring their devices to the pool. That is something that you probably shouldn’t do. As we all know, water and electricity isn’t a fun mix. There are plenty of swimming accidents related to electricity, recorded every year in the US. 

 

Intoxication: Not only alcohol, but all sorts of intoxicants are known to cause swimming accidents. Mind altering substances do just that, they change how we think. In pools this issue could be managed better, as there usually are lifeguards on duty. This becomes a far greater risk when we enter natural bodies of water. Speaking of which…

 

 

Public Swimming Pool

 

 

Swimming accidents in natural bodies of water

 

Natural bodies of water are much more prone to accidents. Unlike in pools, here you have to deal with streams and/or tides too.

 

Swimming skills: Probably the biggest cause of accidents are swimming skills. Or lack of, to be precise. A lot of cases of drowning could have been prevented, just by teaching people how to swim. 

 

Swimming alone: Just like we mentioned with intoxication, this is a problem that is far riskier in natural bodies of water. While going alone for a swim at the local pool is fine. Doing so at a lake can be much riskier. That’s because if an accident were to happen, you would be left completely on your own. 

 

Markings: Although most places do have markings, some don’t. The first thing to come to mind is uneven terrains. Swimming accidents may occur when the depth of the water suddenly drops very low. To prevent this, there should be markings right at the areas where larger depths begin.

 

 

Woman Swimming In Lake

 

 

However, that isn’t all. Some lakes, rivers and even part of the sea can be contaminated. This contamination can be toxic waste from different factories, or manure from farms. Either of these can cause accidents as you can get poisoned or infected respectively. 

 

Completely alleviating accidents would probably be impossible. What we can do is try our best to avoid them. Safety is something that we tend to overlook. It is only after accidents happen that we truly see the value of it. So let us try our best, to use safety as a preventive and not as a lesson. 

 

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest