Experts suggest ‘buddy system’ to avoid drownings, particularly with youths

Following a pair of tragic Ontario drownings involving youths last month, a non-profit water safety agency suggests using “the buddy system” when in and around the pool.

Stephanie Bakalar, a lifeguard and spokesperson for the Lifesaving Society Ontario (LSO) says she’s been swimming since she was a baby, but wouldn’t swim alone considering Ontario has seen an annual average of 550 non-fatal drowning emergency visits over the last decade.

“A lot of adults swim on their own, and about one-third of adults who drowned were swimming by themselves,” Bakalar told 900 CHML’s Good Morning Hamilton.

“But this gets so much higher as you get older. So about 75 per cent of older adults drowned while swimming alone.”

Two three-year-old children died within five days of each other this past May in Ajax and Oakville, both the victims of rare backyard pool drownings.

The first, a young girl on May 23 at a residence near Rossland Road West and Harwood Avenue in Ajax, the other a boy on May 28 at a Warwick Avenue home, near Speers Road and Third Line in Oakville.

Both incidents are still under investigation and no charges have been laid in either case.

Bakalar says backyard pool drownings, fatal and non-fatal, are typically infrequent with only about 12 per cent recorded every year, most involving children under five.

Youth under 20 had the highest rate of non-fatal emergency department visits tied to drowning between 2011 and 2020, about eight for every 100,000 incidents for a total of 2,484.

An estimated 50 in that age group require hospitalization each year.

Not actively supervising kids and children gaining access to backyard pools when they weren’t supposed to are the most common causes of drowning in the province.

The latest LSO report goes on to reveal an average of 98 occurrences per year require hospitalization and that about 150 water-related fatalities have been recorded annually based on available data between 2008 and 2017.

Public pools in Ontario follow strict guidelines set out by provincial government legislation requiring lockable entryways, a lifeguard and minimum amounts of safety equipment.

The LSO recommends similar protocols for backyard pools including life jackets, teaching children to swim, fencing around backyard pools, door alarms and a safety checklist.

Actively supervising kids by keeping an eye on them at all times should be top of the list for parents, according to Bakalar.

“If you need to look away from the pool, even for a moment, ask someone else to actively supervise the kids,” she said.

“Drowning is really quick and silent, you often won’t hear any splashing.”

1:56 Three-year-old dies after being found in backyard pool