Get ready for summer water fun with safety tips from Red Cross

Water safety isn’t just about being able to swim, it is about being confident and competent around water – in pools, at beaches, at rivers and lakes, and even in bathtubs.

Water competency is one of the best ways to increase water safety for yourself and those around you. Learning to avoid common dangers, developing fundamental water safety skills to make you safer both in and around the water, and knowing how to prevent as well as respond to drowning emergencies are all examples of being water competent and confident.

The American Red Cross lists the following as guidelines for what they consider the first component of water competency, “Water Smarts.”

• Know your limitations, including physical fitness, medical conditions.
• Never swim alone; swim with lifeguards and/or water watchers present.
• Wear a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket appropriate for your weight and size and the water activity. Always wear a life jacket while boating, regardless of swimming skill.
• Swim sober.
• Understand the dangers of hyperventilation and hypoxic blackout.
• Know how to call for help.
• Understand and adjust for the unique risks of the water environment you are in, such as:

-River currents.

-Ocean rip currents.

-Water temperature.

-Shallow or unclear water.

-Underwater hazards, such as vegetation and animals.

The second component listed as part of water competency is “Swimming Skills,” and, again, the Red Cross has a list of skills to strive to attain:

• Enter water that’s over your head, then return to the surface.
• Float or tread water for at least 1 minute.
• Turn over and turn around in the water.
• Swim at least 25 yards.
• Exit the water.

The American Red Cross also lists a set of skills and actions to be mastered in order to keep others safe, including friends and family members, when near the water.

• Paying close attention to children or weak swimmers you are supervising in or near water.
• Knowing the signs that someone is drowning.
• Knowing ways to safely assist a drowning person, such as “reach or throw, don’t go.”
• Knowing CPR and first aid.

Summer is a time for fun. And i Middle Tennessee that often means a lot of times at the pool or on the numerous lakes and rivers or near the waterfalls that the Upper Cumberland is known for. Being sure everyone headed out for some water fun is both water confident and water competent should be the first priority on a summer planning list.