a. Survivors:
Totalled 4 children, aged between two and four years of age, who had effectively been left unsupervised between 1.5 and 5 minutes before being found in the pool and were saved by utilising immediate CPR.
b. Deaths:
Totalled 4 children, aged between 17 months and six years of age, who had effectively been left unsupervised between 10 and 20 minutes before being found in the pool but could not be saved, despite immediate CPR being used.
Lesson: Parents must take responsibility (and be held responsible) for supervising their children in and around water hazards including, swimming pools, paddling pools, spas, rivers and beaches. Indeed, they should also be in the water and within arms reach of children aged between 0 and 6 years.
It is also reasonable to assume, had this definition for the "Supervision of Children" been widely promoted and accepted by parents, none of these eight children would have either drowned or, had a near drowning experience!
While to most adults it is a matter of common sense, the continued drownings of the under six year old in our society could indicate a complete lack of common sense in the general population and perhaps, a regrettable acceptance of the premise, the state and its officers are ultimately "responsible" for our children!
In an attempt to further the educational process and reduce the current 75% of child drownings attributable to the lack of adequate parental supervision, Swish have expanded the "Case Study" page on their web site with these drowning statistics together with the Queensland Government definition of "parental supervision" around water hazards and continue to promote it with every quotation provided to specifiers and end-users, of its product range!
Meanwhile, Swish systems have been approved under the "Exemption Schedule" of the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act 1987 and now, with Territorial Authority acceptance of the NZ standard (NZS 8500-2006) soon to be incorporated into the Act
Swish take the opportunity to again confirm, all Swish Pool Access Safety Systems have been designed to provide for two levels of safety in operation, as required by the standard and defined under clauses 2.3, 3.7 and 4.6
