Every year, thousands of Americans are injured or killed in boating and swimming accidents. You can protect yourself and your family from such accidents by following these guidelines.

Boating safety

  • Check weather and water conditions before leaving shore.
  • Do not drink and boat. Alcohol is a factor in many boating accidents. Choose a designated boat driver who will not drink.
  • Insist that everyone wear a Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device or life jacket while on board.
  • Always tell someone where you’ll be boating, when you expect to be back, and what your boat looks like.
  • Keep Coast Guard-approved visual distress devices, such as pyrotechnic red flares, orange distress flags, or lights on board.
  • Do not carry more passengers than the maximum listed on the boat’s capacity plate.

Home-pool safety

Here’s how to keep your family safe:

  • Enclose your pool with a fence, wall, or other barrier at least four feet tall. Install self-latching gates that open outward.
  • Do not assume your child can swim. Many youngsters forget how to swim when panicked.
  • Keep a portable phone in the pool area and program emergency contacts on its speed dial.
  • Keep a close eye on children and nonswimmers who are using inflatable toys, inner tubes, and mattresses. They could slide off them and drown.
  • Closely supervise children when they are diving or jumping in the pool. Head and back injuries are likely to occur during these activities.
  • Keep the pool’s deck area clear of tripping hazards like toys, dishes, and hoses.
  • Review safety measures and rules with guests before they swim.

Safety musts for children

  • Never leave a young child alone in a bathtub, wading pool, swimming pool, lake, or river. If you must answer the phone or get a towel, take the child with you.
  • Be aware of backyard pools in your neighborhood or apartment building. Your child could wander off and fall in.
  • Enroll children in swimming lessons taught by qualified instructors. But remember, the lessons won’t make children “drown-proof.”
  • Teach your older children that they risk drowning when they overestimate their swimming ability or underestimate water depth.

Safety musts for adults

  • Take swimming lessons from a qualified instructor if you’re not a strong, competent swimmer.
  • Don’t swim if you’ve been drinking alcohol.
  • Don’t swim alone or allow others to do so.
  • Stay out of the water during thunderstorms and other severe weather. During lightning storms, seek shelter away from metal objects, open areas, and large, lone trees.
  • Don’t exceed your swimming ability. Know your limits and stick to them.
  • Check the water level before diving into a pool, ocean, pond, reservoir, or lake. Always dive with your arms extended firmly over your head and your hands together.
  • Don’t dive into unknown bodies of water, like lakes, rivers, quarries, or irrigation ditches. Jump feet first to avoid hitting your head (and breaking your neck or back) on a shallow bottom, hidden rock, or other obstruction.