Emergency Response Plans for Pool Accidents: A Family Guide

If you own a pool, you need to have a plan in place for swimming pool accidents. Even if you make pool safety a priority, accidental injuries can occur. An action plan can help ensure you have the right training and equipment to manage big and small accidents when they happen. Proper preparation can help keep accidents from becoming serious injuries or tragedies. Here’s a pool safety expert’s guide to being ready when something goes wrong.

Planning For Problems

Take the time to develop an action plan and discuss it with adult partners or helpers to ensure everyone is on the same page. The most important part of your plan is establishing the coordination beforehand, which cuts down on chaos and confusion at the moment. 

• Ensure Everyone Knows How to Use Your Pool Safety Equipment – Discuss your safety barriers, pertinent lock codes, swimming pool accident emergency kit, cell phone location, and other rescue gear.
• Take Stock of Training – Find out what gaps you, your family, and any adult helpers have in your water safety or rescue knowledge, and then work to fill in those gaps. The American Red Cross is active coast-to-coast with a wide range of life-saving courses.
• Assign a Water Watcher—Water watchers prioritize keeping an eye on the pool to identify swimmers in distress above all else, and there should always be one on duty when the pool is in use. 
• Identify Other Roles – If there is enough support, you can also designate a person to be in charge of calling for help if needed, as well as someone as the first-aid first responder. 

Accidents, Ouchies, and Injuries

If you could plan around them, they wouldn’t be swimming pool accidents. While accidental drownings get most of the pool safety attention because they cause thousands of deaths annually, tens of thousands suffer drowning-related injuries. Pools are also a prime location for scrapes and bruises, minor cuts, and contusions. Sprained joints, pulled muscles, and even broken bones are all possible. While you don’t need to set up a trauma center poolside, you do need to be ready to manage injuries and emergencies until aid is rendered or help arrives.

Creating Your Poolside Emergency Kit

Your emergency kit should contain the items and equipment needed to aid in immediate intervention for serious swimming pool accidents and treat a wide range of minor injuries. That doesn’t mean it has to be huge or contain everything needed for every potential incident. You want a comprehensive and streamlined kit so that you can readily find the equipment you need to save a life in an emergency.

Emergency Respiration Barrier

These are often handed out during CPR classes but are also available from most medical supply shops and some popular online retailers. If a swimming pool accident leads to drowning, these barriers make it safer for you to provide rescue breathing thanks to a one-way valve that prevents aspirated water from entering your mouth.

Bandages, Tape, and Gauze

These emergency essentials will help you stop or control bleeding in an emergency. They can also help cushion wounds, support joints, or secure a splint if immobilization is needed. A handful of adhesive bandages in various common sizes can also let you respond rapidly to smaller, superficial injuries. Remember, this kit isn’t necessarily meant to provide the breadth of a full first aid kit but rather to give you the tools needed for the biggest urgent needs and a few smaller common ones.

Antiseptic Towels

These small wipes and towels help clean wounds efficiently so you can assess and bandage them. These are meant for minor to moderate wounds only, as swimming pool accidents that are more extensive or cause more blood loss will likely need immediate medical care, and you’ll be more worried about controlling bleeding rather than cleaning the wound. 

Emergency Foil Blanket

While they may look flimsy, foil blankets can serve multiple purposes. They lock in body heat to make someone in shock more comfortable, create a waterproof barrier when water needs to stay out of a wound, and, when folded, help support more comprehensive bandaging or splinting.

First Aid Booklet

Sure, you’ve been trained, but what if you’re the victim? Small booklets covering first aid essentials can be purchased for a few dollars or may be provided by local water and pool safety organizations.

You Also Need:

While these may not be in your emergency kit, there are some items you’ll want to have at or near the poolside to help you prevent and manage emergencies in the moment or more fully treat their aftermath.

• Rescue Hooks – Rescue hooks and long poles should be conspicuously placed and marked so that anyone can find and use them to rescue a swimmer in distress. These tools let the rescuer reach out over the water to pull in or guide someone in danger closer to the pool edge, where they can be pulled to safety.
• Flotation Devices – Flotation devices or lifesavers can be thrown to conscious swimmers in distress, who can grab onto them and be helped to the edge. They can also help a rescuer float an unconscious victim to the edge more efficiently to get them help faster.
• Cell Phone – Keeping a cell phone nearby anytime the pool is in use makes it easier for you or another bystander to contact emergency services if there’s a drowning or some other major accident requiring immediate medical intervention. It should be charged and readily visible, as even locked cell phones have an emergency call feature that can be accessed on a locked phone by anyone as long as they can find it.
• Full First Aid Kit – A more comprehensive first aid kit should be on hand because minor swimming pool accidents that don’t merit breaking into the emergency kit will happen. A separate first aid kit also lets you enforce a “cool down period” after rough play or an altercation has led to a skinned knee, bump, or bruise.

Your Pool Safety Barriers Reduce Injury Risks

ASTM-compliant pool safety barriers maximize pool safety by preventing unsupervised access to the swimming pool area, reducing the risk of accidental drownings. They can also reduce other injury risks when properly installed and maintained. Swimming pool safety covers and nets can both support the weight of a full-grown person, and they provide a softer landing in a partially controlled fall than your pool deck area likely will. Covers also help keep shard objects that could cause cuts or puncture wounds from entering the swimming pool, where they may be more difficult to see. Finally, your removable mesh pool safety fence helps control traffic in and around the pool while also providing a bit of stability for those who need help steadying their walk, like the elderly.

Get Your Free Pool Safety Estimate

Your local independent contractor is ready to help you prevent swimming pool accidents and improve your pool’s safety. Call for a free estimate, and they’ll take measurements, talk to you about your needs, and offer a tailored quote. Take the first step toward a safer pool with All-Safe Pool today.