Swimming Pool Accidents, Injuries & Deaths (2024)

Swimming Pool Accidents, Injuries & Deaths (1)

Who’s liable when someone’s injured while swimming?

Swimming pools pose risks to swimmers and pool owners. Learn your rights and defenses if you’re involved in a swimming pool accident.

Americans LOVE to swim.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), swimming is the 4th most popular recreational activity in the United States and the most popular recreational activity for children ages 7-17. There are an estimated 10 million swimming pools in the US and roughly 91 million people swim in oceans, lakes, and rivers every year.

Unfortunately, swimming is not without risk. Even a casual dip in the pool can end in serious injury or death.

Swimming pool injuries and statistics

Approximately 10 people die from unintentional drowning every day in the US according to the CDC. Roughly 20% of these people are children under the age of 14.

10 people die from unintentional drowning every single day in the United States.
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Of course, swimming accidents don’t always end in death. For every person who dies from drowning, 5 people receive emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries. These injuries range from minor to severe and include:

  • Brain damage. When a person is drowning, water enters their lungs and deprives the brain of oxygen. The part of the brain that controls thinking and memory is the first area of the brain to be harmed as a result of oxygen deprivation. As a result, victims of near-drowning accidents often suffer debilitating memory loss, seizures, learning disabilities, paralysis, and may even slip into a permanent vegetative state. In most cases, brain damage begins to occur after 5 minutes of oxygen deprivation.
  • Recreational water illnesses (RWIs). RWIs are caused by germs and chemicals in the water. They are spread by swallowing, breathing, or having contact with contaminated water. RWIs include gastrointestinal, skin, ear, respiratory, eye, neurologic, and wound infections.
  • Aspiration pneumonia. Aspiration pneumonia is a lung infection that develops after a person inhales water into their lungs.
  • Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ARDS is a severe lung condition that occurs when water fills up the air sacs in a person’s lungs.
  • Hypothermia. Hypothermia occurs when your body loses heat faster than it can produce heat. Believe it or not, a person can get hypothermia even when it’s hot outside and the water is relatively warm. To avoid hypothermia, keep an eye out for the signs (shivering, altered judgment, blueness of the fingers, toes, or lips) and get out of the water when they appear.

Can you drown when you’re not in the water?

Though it’s uncommon, it’s actually possible to drown after you get out of a swimming pool.

The term “dry drowning” refers to an incident that occurs after you’ve inhaled a small amount of water (usually from a brief struggle in the pool). The water irritates your airway and when you exit the pool your muscles start to spasm and you choke.

Similarly, “secondary drowning” occurs when your lung tissue becomes irritated (usually from a near-drowning incident). This irritation leads to inflation which causes your lungs to create fluid. It’s this fluid (rather than the pool water) that you drown in. Frighteningly, this can happen 24 hours after you’ve left the water.

Dry drowning and secondary drowning account for 1-2% of all drowning deaths, and can also lead to long-term respiratory problems and brain damage.

Who’s at risk of drowning?

According to the CDC, children ages 1-4 are the most likely to drown, followed by children ages 5-7. Males are far more likely to drown than females, and minorities (particularly Black Americans) are much more likely to drown than whites.

Drowning is responsible for more deaths among children ages 1-4 than any other cause except birth defects. Tweetthis

In addition, the following factors increase the risk of drowning:

  • Lack of swimming ability
  • New parents
  • New pool owners
  • Multiple children around the pool
  • Underestimating the mobility of a toddler
  • Lack of pool barriers
  • Lack of close supervision
  • Failure to wear a life jacket
  • Seizure disorders
  • Alcohol use

When is a pool owner liable?

Most swimming pool accident cases are premises liability cases. The term “premises liability” refers to a set of rules that impart certain duties on landowners.

Some states base the specific duties owed on the status of the visitor. In these states, visitors are generally divided into 3 categories.

  • Invitees: Someone who foreseeably enters the property even if they weren’t granted express permission (such as a resident entering a public pool)
  • Licensees: Someone with express or implied permission to enter the property for non-business reasons (such as a friend invited over for a pool party)
  • Trespassers: Someone not authorized to be on the property

The specific duties owed can generally be described as follows:

  • Invitee: Invitees are owed the highest degree of care. Landowners must keep the property reasonably safe and warn of dangerous conditions.
  • Licensee: The landowner must warn the licensee of unsafe conditions that the landowner knows about and the licensee is not likely to discover.
  • Trespasser: Landowners don’t owe trespassers any duty of care unless the trespasser is a child. If the trespasser is a child, the attractive nuisance doctrine applies and the landowner must exercise reasonable care to avoid a reasonably foreseeable risk of harm to children caused by an artificial condition that might be attractive to children (such as a swimming pool).

Once the duty owed is determined, the injured person must prove that:

  • The landowner breached the duty owed,
  • The breach caused the harm, and
  • The injured person was in fact harmed.

In states that don’t base the duties owed on the status of the visitor, landowners generally owe ALL VISITORS a duty to maintain their land in a reasonably safe condition and to warn of dangers that are known or knowable.

So what does all this mean?

Generally speaking, if a landowner leaves their pool inadequately protected or unsupervised, they’ll be liable for any injuries that occur.

In most cases, a landowner who leaves their pool inadequately protected or unsupervised will be liable for any injuries that occur. Tweetthis

Of course, other laws may apply and other parties may be held liable depending on the nature of the accident. For example, if a swimmer holds another swimmer underwater, the swimmer may be guilty of battery. Or if a pool pump malfunctions and injures a swimmer, the injured swimmer may be able to file a product liability lawsuit against the manufacturer of the defective pool pump.

Specific requirements for residential pool owners

Most states have adopted specific laws that establish minimum standards with respect to the design, construction, installation, and location of swimming pools. If a person fails to meet these standards and someone is injured or killed as a result of this failure, the pool owner will likely be held liable.

Enjuris tip: Several states have adopted the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC), which addresses everything from drainage requirements to the type of barrier that must be used. Even if your state hasn’t adopted the ISPSC, the failure of a pool owner to meet these standards may be used to help support a negligence claim.

Specific requirements for public pool owners

Similar to residential pools, most states adopt minimum standards for public pools. Again, if the owner of a public pool (likely the town, city, or county) fails to meet these standards and someone is injured as a result, the owner will likely be liable.

Enjuris tip: The process of suing the government is entirely different than the process of suing a private individual. Most importantly, the statute of limitations is significantly shorter. If you think the government might be responsible for your pool injury, use the Enjuris Lawyer Directory to find a lawyer in your area immediately.

Defenses to swimming pool accidents

When a swimmer is injured and the pool owner is sued, they will look to establish that the swimmer caused the accident or was at least partially at fault for the accident.

States typically deal with shared fault in 1 of 4 ways:

Swimming Pool Accidents, Injuries & Deaths (2)

Fault Systems by State

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Swimming pool accident damages

In most states, 3 types of damages are available in a swimming pool accident:

  • Economic damages are the monetary damages you suffer. These include past and future medical expenses, past and future lost wages, and anything else that has a specific “price tag” attached to it.
  • Non-economic damages refer to losses that don’t have a specific dollar value, such as the pain and suffering associated with the injury.
  • Punitive damages are those damages that are awarded to punish the defendant when the defendant acted with actual malice.

Enjuris tip: Keep in mind that almost all homeowners insurance policies provide coverage for swimming pool accidents, which increases your chances of recovering damages if the landowner doesn’t have any money.

In the event that a person dies in a swimming pool accident, certain members of the deceased's family can file a wrongful death lawsuit. In order to recover damages, the family member will have to prove liability the same way the deceased would have had to prove liability had they survived.

If the family member is successful, they can typically recover damages based on the following factors:

  • The financial dependency of the survivors of the deceased
  • The future earnings of the deceased
  • The cost of medical, funeral, and burial services
  • The value of the emotional distress caused by the death

How to prevent pool accidents

Pool safely, a campaign to improve pool and spa safety launched by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, has the following tips for avoiding pool accidents:

  • Never leave a child unattended in or near water
  • Teach children how to swim
  • Teach children to stay away from drains
  • Ensure all pools and spas have compliant drain covers
  • Install proper barriers, covers, and alarms on and around your pool or spa
  • Learn how to perform CPR on children and adults

Have you or a loved one been injured in a pool accident? Don’t tread water. Use the Enjuris Lawyer Directory to contact an attorney in your area.

Swimming Pool Accidents, Injuries & Deaths (3)

Enjuris now partners with Pool Safely to help prevent child drownings
Pool Safely is a national public education campaign from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Learn more about how Enjuris and Pool Safely help make water play and summer fun safer for families!

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Swimming Pool Accidents, Injuries & Deaths (2024)

FAQs

Swimming Pool Accidents, Injuries & Deaths? ›

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), nearly 400 children under the age of 15 die every year due to drowning in pools and spas. There are approximately 6,400 non-fatal drowning injuries that occur each year in the same age group. Drowning is the leading cause of death in children.

How common are pool injuries? ›

How Common Are Swimming Pool Injuries? According to the United States Product Safety Commission (CPSC), there is: An annual average of 371 pool drowning deaths. 6,300 emergency room-treated submersion injuries and swimming pool accidents involving young children in pools and spas.

What are the statistics of swimming injuries? ›

A 5-year survey from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) revealed that overall elite swimmer injury rates were 4.00 injuries per 1000 hours training for men and 3.78 injuries per 1000 hours training for women. Shoulder injuries are the most common injuries, with prevalence between 40% and 91%.

What is one of the greatest risks in a swimming pool? ›

Drowning: Even shallow water can be very dangerous for those who do not know how to swim. If no adults are present to supervise swimmers, there's an increased risk that the smallest accident could turn serious. Owners must have lifesaving equipment near the swimming pool and have a fence around it to limit access.

Why are drowning deaths increasing? ›

Identifying issues that increase drowning risk

Reported barriers include: Swimming lessons too expensive or not accessible. Fear of water. Pool setting or training not welcoming.

How unhealthy is a swimming pool? ›

If it is not properly maintained, the water in your domestic swimming pool may contain a range of microbiological organisms (microbes), including bacteria, viruses and protozoa. These microbes can cause health problems, such as gastroenteritis, ear, nose and throat infections.

What is a common illness from swimming pools? ›

The most common swimming-related illnesses are diarrhea, skin rashes, swimmer's ear, pneumonia or flu-like illness, and irritation of the eyes or respiratory tract.

How common are pool drownings? ›

It's an unbelievable statistic: According to the CDC, drowning is the number one cause of unintentional death for children between the ages of 1 and 4. And according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 390 deaths a year on average are attributed to drowning in a swimming pool or at a spa.

What injuries are most common for swimming? ›

Five Common Swimming Injuries and How to Avoid Them
  • Swimmer's Shoulder. One of the biggest injuries, this is caused by the unique and repetitive motion of a swimmer's stroke, which strains arm and shoulder muscles and can eventually lead to tissue damage. ...
  • Swimmer's Knee. ...
  • Neck Injuries. ...
  • Lower Back Pain. ...
  • Swimmer's Ear.
Aug 11, 2021

What is the greatest threat to swimmers? ›

Rip Currents

They are powerful, channeled currents of water flowing away from shore that quickly pull swimmers out to sea. Rip currents typically extend from the shoreline, through the surf zone, and past the line of breaking waves. The best way to stay safe is to recognize the danger of rip currents.

What type of pool is safest? ›

The safest swimming pool for children is the one called overflow pool. It is called like this because the water is at the same level as the upper part of the terrace. This will allow you to see the children in the water without any problems. It doesn't matter what angle you are looking from.

What is the most common safety problem you see at the pool? ›

Drowning is, without a doubt, the most significant danger associated with swimming pools. It can happen in a matter of seconds and is often silent. Tragically, children and inexperienced swimmers are particularly vulnerable when exposed to a body of water.

What is the common risk pool? ›

A form of risk management usually practised by insurance companies to mitigate risk. Insurance companies come together to form a common pool, itself used as protection for the companies against catastrophic events, usually natural disasters. They are also used by government agencies for similar purposes.

What causes 70% of annual drownings? ›

The main factors that affect drowning risk are lack of swimming ability, lack of barriers to prevent unsupervised water access, lack of close supervision while swimming, location, failure to wear life jackets, alcohol use, and seizure disorders.

What state has the most drownings? ›

Alaska has the nation's highest rate of drowning deaths, and the rate was consistently high over the past six years, according to a new state report. A Division of Public Health epidemiology bulletin released on Wednesday examines drowning deaths from 2016 to 2021 and found some patterns and common factors.

Why are older people more likely to drown? ›

Risk factors for drowning specific to this age group include: Reduced physical ability and increased mobility limitations. Reduced fitness, and swimming and water safety skills. Pre-existing medical conditions and medications.

How likely is it to get sick from a public pool? ›

Yes, there are many illnesses that can be transmitted in pool water. However, the risk of contracting disease in a properly maintained pool is low. People can carry bacteria, viruses and parasites within their bodies and on their skin.

Are pool leaks common? ›

Every homeowner with a pool should be aware of the responsibility it comes with. Neglecting proper care can lead to a handful of issues. One of the most common issues is a leaking pool. Pool leaks occur if you don't properly maintain your swimming pool or repair damages when initially found.

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