When it comes to swimming, everyone loves the water. Unfortunately, when you step out of the pool, excess water can be dangerous. According to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), slipping on wet floors is one of the most common household hazards. Across the planet, more than 40 people die by drowning every hour. Often times, they end up in the water as a result of slipping on wet floors.
In today’s post, let’s take a closer look at how we can prevent injuries due to wet decks and flooring.
Dry Off to Prevent Slipping on Wet Floors
Logically, if you want to prevent people from slipping, you’ll want to eliminate any excess water on the flooring. Certain surfaces, such as tiles, can become extremely slick if not properly dried off. Sure, the heat of a
blazing hot sun will usually dry off the floor… but it doesn’t hurt to take some extra precautions. Bring some extra towels to your pool area or deck. In a pinch, these can help you to quickly dry the ground before foot traffic causes an accident.
Slime is Slippery
Besides moisture, slime and algae are a pool owner’s enemy. We’ve written about
cleaning your pool in the past, but that also goes for your tiles, deck and flooring. Places that remain moist can be magnets for slippery films and slimes of all kinds. To make matters worse, it can seem to be invisible to the naked eye. As you can imagine, this can be a pretty dangerous safety hazard. Thoroughly clean these areas often to be sure you and your guests will have a safe swim.
Set Some Ground Rules
If you’re going to have guests over to swim, you should make the rules clear.
Adults and
teens can be reckless at times, but children are the ones who need the most attention here. Before anyone approaches the pool area, be sure to lay down some basic laws. At the very least, make sure that everybody knows not to run around. The flooring surrounding a pool can be slippery even when someone is being cautious. A young child sprinting full-tilt is a disaster waiting to happen.
Wear Swim Shoes Near the Pool Area
Here’s an area where personal responsibility comes into play. As we’ve mentioned, slipping on wet floors can be quite common. Your bare feet offer very little traction control when wet. To mitigate this issue, try wearing Swim Shoes. These are specially designed shoes to help a person keep their balance, even in the water. They work well on land too! A pair of these can help to limit the possibility of someone slipping and falling.
Change the Flooring
Finally, there are a few things you can change in your flooring setup to help prevent slips and falls. For deck owners, consider adding an anti-slip coating. These can be applied to the surface and really help cut down on accidents.
Additionally, consider adding pool mats. These specially designed mats add a textured surface to the common areas by your swimming pool or hot tub. They are designed to provide extra grip while remaining as dry as possible. Best of all, these mats are not permanent. When your pool is closed for the colder weather, these safety products can be packed up and put away.
In the end, owning a pool is a lot of fun. It also requires a lot of responsibility. However, by following these simple tips you’ve read about on this blog, you can help prevent drowning and other accidents by the water.
