Swimming Pool Safety Information from Our Kansas, Missouri, and Arizona Personal Injury Attorneys
One of life’s greatest joys is relaxing and playing in a cool pool on a hot day. Swimming and splashing with friends and family are happy memories for many children and adults. Sadly, the second most common cause of injury and death to children under the age of five is drowning. Swimming pool-related injuries and fatalities are tragically common among adults as well. Taking only a few seconds to transpire, swimming pool injuries or deaths often occur without any warning signs. If you or someone you love is the victim of a swimming pool-related injury, or a family member is the victim of a swimming pool-related death, we want to help you in any way possible. Our Kansas, Arizona, and Missouri personal injury firm is committed to restoring quality of life and preventing injury to others.
Frequently Asked Questions: Swimming Pool Injury and Death
- We just put in a swimming pool—what can I do to prevent accidental injury and drowning?
- I allowed my child to go to a friend’s birthday party and she almost drowned in the family’s pool. Now she’s severely brain damaged; what legal steps can I take?
- What if the pool or safety equipment was defective in some way?
We just put in a swimming pool—what can I do to prevent accidental injury and drowning?
If you have recently had a pool built on your property, there are several steps you can take to safeguard you, your family, and your guests from serious personal injury or drowning. Perhaps the most important step you can take is installing several different forms of safety equipment. Putting a gate or protective cover around the pool is essential. When purchasing and installing such devices, be sure to check the latches and the amount of pressure each can withstand; for example, make sure that if a child were to fall onto the protective pool cover, it would not buckle beneath them. Also, gates and fences should be at least 4 feet high to prevent children from climbing over them.
Specialized alarm systems are also an excellent way to add to the safety of your pool area. There are many different types of pool alarms, some that are placed on a gate or doorway leading out to the swimming pool, and some that sense motion inside the pool itself. We recommend you research the various methods of alarming your pool, and install one as soon as possible to minimize the risk of personal injury or wrongful death.
Finally, post signs that tell how deep the pool is in certain areas, and/or warning swimmers about the risks of diving, running near the pool, and other potential hazards.
I allowed my child to go to a friend’s birthday party and she almost drowned in the family’s pool. Now she’s severely brain damaged; what legal steps can I take?
If your child has been injured in a swimming pool accident, seek immediate medical attention. You should also seek legal counsel to advise you on your rights after such a tragedy. If your child was injured due to the negligence of the pool’s owners, then they can be held liable for medical expenses and other damages incurred by the accident. A brain injury can have a devastating effect on your child and will likely require years of costly medical care. Obtaining adequate compensation can help restore your child’s quality of life as fully as possible. At our firm serving Kansas, Missouri, and Arizona, the team of personal injury lawyers is dedicated to helping victims and their families understand and protect their rights. We can evaluate your personal injury claim and help you determine the best course of action.
What if the pool or safety equipment was defective in some way?
In many swimming pool accident cases, a defective design or malfunctioning product is partially responsible for the injury or death. For example, faulty gate latches or improperly designed pool alarms are often attributed to accidental drowning. In these instances, a product liability claim may be necessary to hold the designers or manufacturers of the products liable for the damages. Similarly, inadequate warnings or poor design of the pool itself can also lead to personal injury or death, and the responsible parties should be held accountable for these needless events.
If you or a loved one has been the victim of a swimming pool accident, we want to help you recover physically, emotionally, and legally. In Kansas, Missouri, and Arizona, contact our personal injury lawyers to arrange a consultation. Our medical-legal team has extensive experience handling cases involving these types of injuries, and is committed to compassionately pursuing justice for our injured clients and their families.