Drowning Prevention
How large is the problem?
- From 2004 - 2008, 191 Miami-Dade residents unintentionally drowned, averaging 38 deaths per year.
- More than one in four fatal drowning victims were children aged 14 and younger. For every child who died from drowning, another three received emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries.
- Nonfatal drownings can cause brain damage that may result in long-term disabilities including memory problems, learning disabilities, and permanent loss of basic functioning (i.e., permanent vegetative state).
- Males: From 2004 – 2008, males were 3 1/2 times more likely than females to die from unintentional drownings in Miami-Dade
- Children: In 2008, of all children 1 to 4 years old who died, 21% died from drowning. Fatal drowning remains the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for children aged 1 to 14 years.
- Race/Ethnicity:
- In Miami-Dade between 2004 and 2008, the fatal unintentional drowning rate for African Americans across all ages was 1.4 times that of Hispanics.
- Rates of fatal drowning are especially higher by race/ethnicity in certain age groups. The fatal drowning rate of Non-Hispanic white children aged 0 to 4 nearly twice that of Hispanic children in the same age range.
- Factors such as the physical environment such as access to swimming pools and a mixture of social and cultural issues such as importance of swimming skills and participating in recreational water-related activities may play a role in drowning rate racial differences.
What are the major risk factors?
- Lack of barriers and supervision. Children under one year most often drown in bathtubs, buckets, or toilets. Among children ages 1 to 4 years, most drownings occur in residential swimming pools. Most young children who drown in pools are last seen in the home, out of sight for less than five minutes, and are in the care of an adult at the time. Barriers such as pool fencing or alarms can help prevent children from gaining access to the pool area.
- Age and recreation in natural water settings (lakes, rivers, oceans). The percent of drownings in natural water increases with age. Most drownings among those over 15 years of age occur in natural water.
- Alcohol use. Alcohol use is involved in about 25-50% of teenage and adult deaths associated with water recreation. Alcohol affects balance, coordination, and judgment, and its effects are intensified by sun exposure and heat.
- Seizure disorders. For those with seizure disorders, drowning is the most common cause of unintentional injury death, with the bathtub as the site with the highest drowning risk.
How can drownings be prevented?
- Assign a responsible adult to watch young children while in the bath tub and all children swimming or playing in or around water. Adults should not be involved in any other distracting activity (such as reading, playing cards, talking on the phone, watching television, or mowing the lawn) while supervising children.
- Always swim with a buddy. Select swimming sites that have lifeguards whenever possible.
- Avoid drinking alcohol before or during swimming, boating, or water skiing. Do not drink alcohol while supervising children.
- Learn to swim. Be aware that the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend swimming classes as the most important way to prevent drownings for children younger than 4. Constant, careful supervision and barriers such as pool fencing are needed even when children have completed swimming classes.
- Learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). In the time it may take for paramedics to arrive, your CPR skills can make a difference in someone’s life. CPR has been shown to improve outcomes in drowning victims.
- Do not use air-filled or foam toys, such as “water wings”, “noodles”, or inner-tubes, in place of life jackets (personal flotation devices). These toys are not made to keep swimmers safe.
If you have a swimming pool at home:
- Install a four-sided, isolation pool fence that completely separates the house and play area of the yard from the pool area. The fence should be at least 4 feet high. Use self-closing and self-latching gates that open outward with latches children cannot reach. Additionally, consider additional barriers such as automatic door locks or alarms to prevent access or alert you if someone goes into the pool area.
- Remove floats, balls, and other toys from the pool and surrounding area immediately after use. The presence of these toys may encourage children to enter the pool area and possibly fall in.
If you are in or around natural bodies of water:
- Be aware of the local weather conditions before swimming or boating. Strong winds and thunderstorms with lightning strikes are dangerous.
- Use U.S. Coast Guard approved life jackets when boating, regardless of distance to be traveled, size of boat, or swimming ability of boaters.
- Know the meaning and obey warnings of colored beach flags.
- Look out for dangerous waves and signs of rip currents (water that is discolored and choppy, foamy, or filled with debris and moving in a channel away from shore). If you are caught in a rip current, swim parallel to shore. Once free of the current, swim toward shore.
Layers of Protection
Although supervision is the best way to prevent drownings, lapses can occur. Layers of Protection means that in addition to supervision, an assortment of strategies, products, and concepts are used to help further reduce the risk of drowning, specifically to children.
Resource Data on Drowning
Comprehensive data regarding drownings in Miami-Dade County is available for viewing from the Data Sources page.
