ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Making Pool Season Safe

Every summer, swimming pools around Orange County become deathtraps for infants and toddlers. Now the extent of this seasonal tragedy is documented in sobering findings from the county Health Care Agency, which has issued a cautionary report under the banner of its Childhood Injury Prevention Program.

In 1991, eight of the 25 Orange County victims of drownings were children under age 4, and six of these deaths occurred in pools, according to the agency. There were 59 near-drownings in the same age group during the year.

And looking at the big picture, pool drownings turned out to be the leading cause of accidental death for Orange County’s infants and toddlers, surpassing car accidents.

Dr. Rick Greenwood, who oversees the program, suggests that most toddler deaths involved a break in attention among adults. That is, supervising adults were somehow diverted while youngsters found their way into the pools. The obvious message is that inattention can mean death.

But beyond supervision, pool safety experts offer a number of suggestions for preventing such accidents. Among them: four-sided fencing, which can protect youngsters far better than having the house serve as one side of the fence--a situation that can permit toddlers access to pools through patio doors.

Fence gates should be self-closing and self-latching, and the gate latch should be above a child’s reach. Pool covers need to be securely fastened. It can help, too, for parents to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation and to keep a phone near the pool.

The agency notes that there are more than 100,000 back-yard pools in Orange County, and that the county has had more pool drownings than most other areas of the nation. And this is the time of year to be extra careful; more than half the drownings in 1991 for all ages occurred during June, July and August.

The promise of Southern California’s long outdoor season can suddenly turn tragic in a moment of inattention. Only those willing to be vigilant with very young children around should think about assuming the responsibility of pool ownership.