Water Safety

Water Safety Tips:

Never leave your child unattended around water. Babies can drown in as little as one inch of water.
Watch kids when they are in or around water, without being distracted. Keep young children within arm’s reach of an adult.
Close toilet lids and use toilet seat locks to prevent drowning.
Keep doors to bathrooms and laundry rooms closed.
Once bath time is over, immediately drain the tub.
Empty buckets, containers and kiddie pools immediately after use. Store them upside down so they don’t collect water.
Sign your child up for swimming classes. Its a great way for them to learn life-saving techniques in case of an emergency

Sign up for a CPR class at a local Red Cross Learning Center You can find CPR classes by clicking here AMERICAN RED CROSS CPR CLASSES

Download or print the following steps and place them in a busy area or near open water:

Before Giving Baby CPR

Check the scene and the child. Make sure the scene is safe, flick the bottom of the foot to elicit a response.
Call 911. If the infant does not respond, ask a bystander to call 911, then administer approximately 2 minutes of care If the infant does respond, call 911 to report any life-threatening conditions and obtain consent to give care. Check the infant from head to toe and ask questions to find out what happened If you’re alone with the infant, administer 2 minutes of care, then call 911
Open the Airway. With the infant lying on his or her back, tilt the head back slightly and lift the chin.
Check for breathing. Listen carefully, for no more than 10 seconds, for sounds of breathing. Infants typically have periodic breathing, so changes in breathing pattern are normal.
Deliver 2 rescue breaths if the infant isn’t breathing. With the head tilted back slightly and the chin lifted, use your mouth to make a complete seal over the infant’s mouth and nose, then blow in for one second to make the chest clearly rise. Now, deliver two rescue breaths.
Begin CPR. If the child is unresponsive to the rescue breaths, begin CPR

Performing CPR on an Infant

Kneel beside the child
Push hard, push fast For infants, use 2 fingers to deliver 30 quick compressions that are each about 1.5 inches deep
Give 2 rescue breaths
Keep going. Continue the these baby CPR steps until you see obvious signs of life, like breathing, or until an AED is ready to use, another trained responder or EMS professional is available to take over, you’re too exhausted to continue, or the scene becomes unsafe.

Before Giving Child CPR

Check the scene and the child. Make sure the scene is safe, then tap the child on the shoulder and shout “Are you OK?” to ensure that he or she needs help.
Call 911. If the child does not respond, ask a bystander to call 911, then administer approximately 2 minutes of care If the child does respond, call 911 to report any life-threatening conditions and obtain consent to give care. Check the child from head to toe and ask questions to find out what happened If you’re alone with the child, administer 2 minutes of care, then call 911
Open the Airway. With the child lying on his or her back, tilt the head back slightly and lift the chin.
Check for breathing. Listen carefully, for no more than 10 seconds, for sounds of breathing. (Occasional gasps aren’t breathing.)
Deliver 2 rescue breaths if the child or infant isn’t breathing. With the head tilted back slightly and the chin lifted, pinch the child’s nose shut, make a complete seal by placing your mouth over the child’s mouth and breathe into the child’s mouth twice.
Begin CPR. If the child is unresponsive to the rescue breaths, begin CPR

Performing CPR on a Child

Kneel beside the child
Push hard, push fast. For children, place the heel of one hand on the center of the chest, then place the heel of the other hand on top of the first hand, and lace your fingers together. Deliver 30 quick compressions that are each about 2 inches deep.
Give 2 rescue breaths
Keep going. Continue the these child CPR steps until you see obvious signs of life, like breathing, or until an AED is ready to use, another trained responder or EMS professional is available to take over, you’re too exhausted to continue, or the scene becomes unsafe.

Before Giving Adolescent/Adult CPR

Check the scene and the person. Make sure the scene is safe, then tap the person on the shoulder and shout “Are you OK?” to ensure that the person needs help.
Call 911 for assistance. If it’s evident that the person needs help, call (or ask a bystander to call) 911, then send someone to get an AED. (If an AED is unavailable, or a there is no bystander to access it, stay with the victim, call 911 and begin administering assistance.)
Open the airway. With the person lying on his or her back, tilt the head back slightly to lift the chin
Check for breathing. Listen carefully, for no more than 10 seconds, for sounds of breathing. (Occasional gasping sounds do not equate to breathing.) If there is no breathing begin CPR.

Performing CPR on an Adolescent/Adult

Push hard, push fast. Place your hands, one on top of the other, in the middle of the chest. Use your body weight to help you administer compressions that are at least 2 inches deep and delivered at a rate of at least 100 compressions per minute.
Deliver rescue breaths. With the person’s head tilted back slightly and the chin lifted, pinch the nose shut and place your mouth over the person’s mouth to make a complete seal. Blow into the person’s mouth to make the chest rise. Deliver two rescue breaths, then continue compressions. Note: If the chest does not rise with the initial rescue breath, re-tilt the head before delivering the second breath. If the chest doesn’t rise with the second breath, the person may be choking. After each subsequent set of 30 chest compressions, and before attempting breaths, look for an object and, if seen, remove it.
Continue CPR steps. Keep performing cycles of chest compressions and breathing until the person exhibits signs of life, such as breathing, an AED becomes available, or EMS or a trained medical responder arrives on scene. Note: End the cycles if the scene becomes unsafe or you cannot continue performing CPR due to exhaustion.

Watch kids when they are in or around water, without being distracted. Keep young children within arm’s reach of an adult. Make sure older children swim with a partner every time.
When children are swimming and there are several adults present, make sure kids are actively supervised at all times by choosing a Water Watcher.
A Water Watcher is a responsible adult who agrees to watch the kids in the water without distractions and wear a Water Watcher card. After a certain amount of time (such as 15-minutes), the Water Watcher card is passed to another adult, who is responsible for the active supervision.
Install fences around home pools. A pool fence should surround all sides of the pool and be at least four feet tall with self-closing and self-latching gates.
Teach children how to swim. Every child is different, so enroll children in swim lessons when they are ready. Consider their age, development and how often they are around water.
Make sure kids learn how to swim and develop these five water survival skills:
- step or jump into water over their heads and return to the surface
- float or tread water for one minute
- turn around in a full circle and find an exit
- swim 25 yards to exit the water; and
- exit the water. If in a pool, be able to exit without using the ladder.

For more information, check out these websites: