Oklahoma City Swimming Pool Accidents
Nothing is as refreshing as a dip in the pool or as fun and relaxing as a poolside day spent with family or friends. Swimming pools are also deep and surrounded by wet, slippery surfaces. There were 2,454 pool drownings in the U.S. in a single recent year, with 32 drownings in Oklahoma alone. Ten of the drowning deaths in Oklahoma occurred in children under the age of five. Many near-drownings and other types of injuries also occur in and around pools, especially when pool owners fail to enforce safety regulations or take reasonable precautions.
What Causes Swimming Pool Accidents?
When individuals, couples, and families spend time at a pool, the last thing anyone wants or expects is to experience an emergency injury, but swimming pool accidents occur in both private and public pool settings. The most common causes of pool accidents include the following:
- Accidental drownings due to negligence, including inattention, lack of secure gates and fencing, and inadequate signage
- Slip-and-fall accidents due to wet pool decks
- Diving injuries
- Entrapment injuries, including in pool filters
- Chemical burns
- Pool slide injuries
- Accidental electrocution from exposed wires
- Inadequate lighting injuries
- Defective drain injuries
- Injuries from crowding or unchecked rough-housing
- Trip-and-fall accidents
- Injuries from unsecured pool umbrellas and unsafe pool furnishings
Sadly, sometimes serious injuries occur at Oklahoma swimming pools even when visitors are careful and respect the safety rules. When a property owner fails to take reasonable actions to prevent injuries, the results of a swimming pool injury can be disasterous.
Common Types of Swimming Pool Injuries in Oklahoma City
Swimming is a fun and fitness-friendly activity. However, the common combination of water, wet cement, drinking, and rough-housing too often results in accidents. Injuries associated with pools include the following:
- Drowning
- Near-drowning (sometimes causing hypoxia, or brain injury from lack of oxygen)
- Head injuries/traumatic brain injuries
- Neck injuries
- Fractures
- Soft-tissue injuries to shoulders, knees, ankles, and wrists
- Back injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Lacerations, contusions, and abrasions
- Electrocutions
Pool accident injuries cause pain and trauma, often resulting in serious economic damages from medical expenses and the loss of income. In the worst cases, pool injuries result in wrongful death.
Negligence and Liability In Swimming Pool Accidents
Pool owners owe a duty of care to those lawfully on their property. If they breach this duty through negligence and it causes injury or wrongful death with damages, the injury victim or their family members are entitled to compensation.
Property owners with swimming pools must follow safety regulations and take reasonable measures such as the following;
- Providing adequate fencing and locking gates
- Providing adequate lighting
- Ensuring proper supervision and monitoring
- Properly maintaining the pool and deck
- Providing a non-slip deck surface
- Providing adequate safety equipment such as rescue floats
Swimming pool owners must also ensure that pool depths are adequately marked, pools are secured after hours, visitors are adequately warned of any safety hazards, and safety hazards are promptly repaired or corrected.
How Can a Pool Injury Lawyer in Oklahoma City Help?
Swimming pool injuries are frightening, especially near-drownings, which can have long-term impacts caused by a hypoxic brain injury. Some pool accidents result in death, with painful consequences for loved ones who have to grieve the loss. A successful wrongful death compensation claim in Oklahoma City against a negligent property owner helps recover compensation through financial accountability. Call Dan Davis Law today so we can hear about your swimming pool accident injury case during a free consultation.