With summer rapidly approaching, swimming is on the minds of more and more children. Every swimming pool poses a considerable risk to a child’s safety, and they are the second biggest cause of death for children, who are under the age of 14. Over 1,000 children drown in swimming pools every year, and more than 5,000 children end up in the hospital due to swimming pool accidents. Although swimming pools can be a great place to have fun during the summer months, or warm weather, they can also be a place fraught with dangerous hazards, resulting in slip and fall injuries, submersion accidents, and drowning accidents.
Many property owners who have swimming pools on their properties do their best to protect children from swimming pool and drowning accidents, but the reality is that any property owner who has a swimming pool on their premises can never be too careful when it comes to safeguarding their pool. A recent study by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recommended that a swimming pool owners use multiple precautions to provide for the safety of any children who may resides on the same property with a swimming pool or live nearby. Some of the safety recommendations include: (1) installing a fence with a self-locking latch; (2) keeping emergency equipment in a convenient location in case a child has an accident; and (3) having a cell phone or landline available at all times when children are swimming to insure that 911 can be summoned promptly.
Swimming pools are a somewhat unique hazard, and homeowners may be found liable for swimming pool injuries to a child even if the child trespasses and uses the property owner’s swimming pool without the homeowner’s knowledge or permission. Swimming pools are considered an “attractive nuisance” under premise liability law. An attractive nuisance is essentially a manmade condition on one’s property that could foreseeably attract a child, and that poses dangers that a child is not likely to fully appreciate. Because young children do not necessarily understand the risks of injury or fatality posed by a swimming pool, swimming pools are the archetype example of an attractive nuisance.
There are many types of hazards that may cause injuries in and around swimming pools, including:
- Faulty life-saving and safety equipment
- Faulty drains or missing drain covers resulting in entrapment injuries
- Improperly installed diving boards
- Lack of adult supervision
- Gates that do not latch or missing enclosures
Some of the most common injuries that children sustain in swimming pool accidents include head trauma from falls, brain damage or death from drowning incidents or spinal cord injuries from diving accidents. If you or someone you love has a child who was recently injured in a swimming pool accident, we encourage you to contact our experienced team of personal injury attorneys today. At the Barrett Law Offices PLLC, our experienced Mississippi personal injury lawyers represent injury victims throughout Mississippi. Our law firm has roots that reach back 75 years so contact us today for your free initial consultation at (662) 834-2376 to see how we can help.
