The upcoming Memorial Day holiday weekend is the unofficial start of summer when all of us will begin enjoying the outdoors and sunshine. This is the perfect time to ensure that you and your family are prepared to spend an enjoyable day by the water and be safe at the same time.
Why Is Water Safety So Important?
It only takes a moment. A child or weak swimmer can drown in the time it takes to reply to a text, check a fishing line or apply sunscreen. Death and injury from drownings happen every day in home pools and hot tubs, at the beach or in oceans, lakes, rivers and streams, bathtubs, and even buckets.
The Red Cross believes that by working together to improve water competency – which includes swimming skills, water smarts and helping others – water activities can be safer… and just as much fun.
Water Smarts
Take these sensible precautions when you’re around water (even if you’re not planning to swim):
- Know your limitations, including physical fitness, medical conditions.
- Never swim alone; swim with lifeguards and/or water watchers present.
- Wear a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket appropriate for your weight and size and the water activity. Always wear a life jacket while boating, regardless of swimming skill.
- Swim sober.
- Understand the dangers of hyperventilation and hypoxic blackout.
- Know how to call for help.
- Understand and adjust for the unique risks of the water environment you are in, such as:
- River currents.
- Ocean rip currents.
- Water temperature.
- Shallow or unclear water.
- Underwater hazards, such as vegetation and animals.
DOWNLOAD RED CROSS APPS The Red Cross app “Emergency” can help keep you and your loved ones safe by putting vital information in your hand for more than 35 severe weather and emergency alerts. The Red Cross Swim App promotes water safety education and helps parents and caregivers of young people learning how to swim. The Red Cross First Aid App puts instant access to information on handling the most common first aid emergencies at your fingertips. Download these apps for free by searching for ‘American Red Cross’ in your app store or at redcross.org/apps. Learn First Aid and CPR/AED skills (redcross.org/takeaclass) so you can help save a life.
Swimming Skills
Learn how to perform these 5 skills in every type of water environment that you may encounter (such as in home pools, oceans, lakes, rivers and streams):
- Enter water that’s over your head, then return to the surface.
- Float or tread water for at least 1 minute.
- Turn over and turn around in the water.
- Swim at least 25 yards.
- Exit the water.