American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council: Guidelines for Group Aquatic Outings

Abstract

Drowning is a leading cause of accidental death that disproportionately affects children. Though drowning deaths do not occur in epidemic proportions, the drowning of even one child is an incomprehensible tragedy and immeasurable loss to the parents and family. Much has been written about ways to prevent childhood drowning. Strategies include but are not limited to secure fencing, lifeguard supervision, lifejackets for weak or nonswimmers, learning to swim, and, most importantly, parental supervision. But what of the times when parents are not part of the solution providing supervision-times such as when the child is at school or with a daycare provider. Each year, as schools come to a close, teachers search for fun and exciting activities for that last field trip of the year, and daycare agencies and child service providers are organizing summer activities. One of the most popular activities is an aquatic outing. Unfortunately, and all too often, preplanning is poor or nonexistent, and child care staff and teachers tend to rely solely on lifeguards rather than providing active supervision for their charges. The consequences of poor planning and inattention by staff can end in tragedy. In Dallas, Texas, two children nearly drowned during an aquatic outing attended by 55 other children ages 6 and 7. A 5-year-old kindergarten student drowned when he and 107 other students attended an aquatic outing at a local pool. A 7-year-old girl drowned while attending a day camp with 38 other campers and 6 counselors. These are only a few examples of the dozens of swimming pool drownings that are recorded every year in the United States between Memorial Day (May) and Labor Day (September). Should parents not have an expectation of safety when the school or daycare has charge of their child? Should parents not have an expectation that proper preplanning and adequate supervision have been addressed before an aquatic outing? The purposes of this paper are to educate parents, daycare providers, teachers, and elementary school principals about the potential risks of drowning, to provide guidelines for systematic preplanning, and to recommend ratios for staff supervision for aquatic outings. The full report is available Open Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/ijare.2014-0049 Language: en