Staying Safe Around Swimming Pools This Summer

In South Carolina, the weather is right for swimming for most of the year, but swimming pool-related accidents that result in injury or death are more frequent in the summer months.  This is because children, who account for a disproportionate number of pool swimmers in general, as well as swimming pool accident victims, are not in school, so they have more time to spend at the pool.  Swimming pool accidents can happen anywhere, in home swimming pools, hotels, and public pools.  With proper caution by young swimmers and their adult guardians, it is possible to swim safely all summer long.  Most swimming pool accidents are preventable, and if your child gets injured in a swimming pool accident, you have the right to file a personal injury claim against the party responsible for the pool and seek compensation for your child’s accident-related medical bills, as well as other financial losses you incurred because of the accident.  To find out more about your legal options after a swimming pool-related accident, contact a Columbia premises liability lawyer.

Terrible Accidents Can Happen When Children Are Unattended at Swimming Pools

A recent article on Yahoo Lifestyle published the results of a survey with emergency room physicians about the activities that they consider most dangerous for children and teens.  The doctors cited riding ATVs, going outside in excessive heat for more than a short time, riding a bicycle without a helmet, and playing near lawnmowers as activities that cause serious and preventable injuries.  At the top of the list, though, was swimming in swimming pools without adult supervision.  When kids play unattended at swimming pools without supervision, many kinds of accidents can happen, from accidental falls to drowning.

Swimming pools at hotels, apartment complexes, and amusement parks should have lifeguards on duty at all times when the pool is open for swimming.  When there is no lifeguard on duty, the pool should be inaccessible to swimmers.

Swimming Pools and the Attractive Nuisance Doctrine

Premises liability laws, like the ones that hold businesses legally responsible for injuries to customers, also apply to homeowners when guests get injured on their property.  Pursuant to the attractive nuisance doctrine, homeowners can be responsible if a child gets injured while swimming in the homeowner’s pool or running on the homeowner’s pool deck even when the homeowner is not home.  An attractive nuisance is something that attracts children’s attention but is dangerous if they interact with it without supervision, such as a swimming pool or trampoline.  Homeowners have a responsibility to protect neighborhood children from danger by making it impossible to access the pool unless the homeowner or his or her representative, such as a babysitter, is present.  They can do this by installing a fence or screened in patio with a lock.

Let Us Help You Today

The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you if you got injured in an accident in someone else’s swimming pool.  Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.

Source:

yahoo.com/lifestyle/5-summer-activities-er-doctors-231005936.html