Welcome to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission podcast for Friday, July 6th, 2007. I’m Patty Davis.

Now that summer is in full swing – and many people are heading to the pool with small children. CPSC is strongly advising that parents use layers of protection around the pool to prevent children from becoming drowning victims.

Parents may think that if their child falls in the water, they’ll hear lots of splashing and screaming, and that they’ll be able to come to the rescue. Many times, however, children slip under the water silently. Even people near the pool often report hearing nothing out of the ordinary.

There are about 260 drowning deaths of children younger than 5 each year in swimming pools, and an estimated 2,725 children are treated annually in hospital emergency rooms for pool submersion injuries – mostly in residential or backyard pools.

To reduce the risk of drowning, CPSC recommends adopting layers of protection, including physical barriers, such as a fence with self-closing, self-latching gates completely surrounding pools to prevent unsupervised access by young children. If the house forms a side of the barrier, use alarms on doors leading to the pool area or a power safety cover over the pool.

It’s important to always be prepared for an emergency by having rescue equipment and a phone near the pool. Also, all parents who own pools should learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR.

CPSC is also highlighting the growing dangers of the popular inflatable or portable pools. These pools may fall outside of local building codes that require barriers, and are often purchased by consumers without considering the barriers, such as fencing, necessary to protect young children.

CPSC offers these additional safety tips:

Since every second counts, always look for a missing child in the pool first. Precious time is often wasted looking for missing children anywhere but in the pool.

Don’t leave toys and floats in the pool that can attract young children and cause them to fall in the water when they reach for the items.

For above-ground and inflatable pools with ladders, remove or secure the ladder when the pool is not being used.

Even if children can swim, it doesn’t make them drown-proof. Always supervise children using the pool.

In recall news this week, Infantino recalled about 68,000 children’s toy castles due to a choking hazard.

About 3,000 Hammock stands were recalled by The Algoma Net Co. due to a fall hazard.

A serious intestinal injury prompted Kipp Brothers to recall about 800 Mag Stix Magnetic Building Sets.

And – 20,000 children’s metal jewelry sets were recalled by Future Industries due to a lead poisoning hazard.

For more information on these, and other recalls and safety news announced by CPSC, visit our Web site at www.cpsc.gov.

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