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Swimming pool immersion accidents: an analysis from the Brisbane Drowning Study
  1. John H Pearn,
  2. James Nixon
  1. University of Queensland, Australia

    Abstract

    An analysis of a consecutive series of 66 swimming pool immersion accidents is presented; 74% of these occurred in in-ground swimming pools. The estimated accident rate per pool is fives times greater for in-ground pools compared with above-ground pools, where pools are inadequately fenced. Backyard swimming pools account for 74% of pool accidents. Motel and caravan park pools account for 9% of childhood immersion accidents, but the survival rate (17%) is very low. Fifty per cent of pool accidents occur in the family's own backyard pool, and 13.6% in a neighbour's pool; in the latter the survival rate is still low at only 33%. In only one of the 66 cases was there an adequate safety fence; in 76% of cases there was no fence or barrier whatsoever. Tables of swimming pool accidents by age, season, site, and outcome are presented.

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