pool safety

1) Before taking a shot, look behind you make sure your cue has …

Alright, this post is about swimming pools and water safety, not billiards or the like.

Today, Yahoo News was highlighting a Toronto politician who wanted all children in Toronto to receive swimming lessons so as to prevent drowning.  He felt this would be cheaper than paying for lifeguards to watch every pool in Toronto.  Soon after he made his suggestion, a boy was found floating in a pool with no vital signs. He was pronounced dead the following day.

On Friday afternoon, a boy was plucked from the pool at the Toronto Don Valley Hotel at Eglinton Avenue and the Don Valley Parkway. He was taken to hospital with no vital signs and died Saturday. Another child taken out of the pool was conscious and mobile.

Smitherman says it would be too expensive to make sure there is a lifeguard on duty at every pool including those in condos.

The swimming-lessons pitch is part of a plan Smitherman released Friday to transform Toronto’s schools into community hubs, offering a broad range of government services including daycare, recreation facilities and libraries.

I am unconvinced.  Kids, especially young boys, will find pools and get into trouble even if they are good swimmers.

I guess my feeling is that there is a price that can be placed on human life.  I don’t know what it is, but, for example, I would be willing to accept a few boating deaths of idiots if I didn’t have to carry all that ridiculous safety gear in my canoe on short trips.

Hmm, did that make sense?

I’ll try again.  I don’t want anyone to die and I am comfortable saying we should protect young people in particular.  Yet, they will always be people who kill themselves doing stupid things.  Creating new red tape and expenses to stop those deaths will cost too much per unit death.

All that said, I would like more lifeguards at swimming areas in Korea and more understanding of  water safety in Koreans who use pools and beaches.  Recess isn’t enough (from a Q&A at the Joongang Daily):

All outdoor swimming pools in Korea must abide by the regulation set by the Korea Swimming Pool Management Association that swimming is allowed for 40 to 45 minutes, with 15 to 20 minutes rest time in-between.

According to the manager at the outdoor swimming pool in Jamsil, the recess is for health and safety reasons. By emptying the pool, staff can clean up debris or pick up lost items or foliage. A brief rest also can help prevent hypothermia among young children, who tend to stay for a prolonged period of time at play, and also prevent accidental drowning.

The pool I take Alex too, doesn’t have recess, nor does it have any visible lifeguards. There are security cameras, if that helps.

I will try to find death-by-drowning rates for Korea and the list of causes.