How Common Are Swimming Pool Accidents?
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, pools are most dangerous to children under 15. Since 2020, this age group has averaged 371 deaths and 6,300 injuries annually. For these ages, these numbers make swimming pools one of the riskiest activities they can participate in.
Drowning is a leading cause of death for children through their early teens. But even adults can drown. Over your lifetime, the odds of drowning to death are roughly one in 1,000.
Types of Swimming Pool Accidents
Swimming pool accidents can take many forms. Some examples include:
- Drowning
- Slipping or tripping on the pool deck
- Diving into shallow water
- Falling from a pool slide
Swimming Pool Injury Risk Factors
Risk factors that can contribute to these accidents include:
- Lack of lifeguards
- No pool fence or enclosure
- Defective or missing emergency equipment, like defibrillators and life buoys
- Mistaken or missing depth markings
- Exposed wiring leading to electric shock
- Lane markers or drains that contribute to entrapment
Another risk factor is a lack of training. When an accident happens, quick action may save the victim’s life. But if those responsible for the pool do not know what to do, a minor problem may result in serious injury or death.
Common Swimming Pool Injuries
Swimming pool injuries can take many forms, depending on the nature of the accident. Some common injuries include the following:
Brain Injury
Pool-related brain injuries can happen in two ways. First, you can suffer brain trauma in a slip and fall accident. The symptoms will depend on the severity of the brain injury. A mild brain injury called a concussion can cause disorientation, amnesia, and loss of coordination. A severe brain contusion can cause permanent brain damage, coma, or death.
Second, your brain can be deprived of oxygen as a result of drowning. Your body needs massive volumes of oxygen to keep your brain and other cells alive. When brain cells die, they never regrow. A victim could suffer permanent brain damage within a few minutes without breathing and die a few minutes later.
Spinal Cord Injury
Spinal cord injuries happen when an injury damages the nerves connecting your brain to your body. These injuries can produce permanent paralysis and loss of sensation below the level of the injury.
Electrocution
Electric current can travel quickly through water and cause severe injury. Causes of electric shock involving swimming pools include:
- Lightning
- Electrical shorts in pool lights, heaters, or pumps
- Electronic devices dropped into the pool or on a wet deck
Electric current overwhelms the nervous system, preventing nerve signals from being transmitted. Your brain cannot communicate with your heart and chest muscles, so circulation and respiration stop. Even if you survive, you may have electrical burns, nerve damage, or brain damage.
Is a Pool Owner Liable for Swimming Pool Accidents in Pennsylvania?
Pool owners and managers are liable for injuries that result from their negligence. Importantly, these parties usually have no premises liability to trespassers. However, Pennsylvania follows the attractive nuisance doctrine that allows courts to hold them liable to children who trespass to access features like swimming pools.
After you or a family member suffers an injury in a swimming pool accident, a Lancaster, PA, swimming pool accident lawyer from Atlee Hall will analyze your situation and outline your options for legal action.
Examples of Premises Liability in Swimming Pool Accidents
To prove premises liability, you must show the person or business responsible for the injury left their property in an unreasonably hazardous condition that resulted in a guest’s injury. When applied to swimming pools, hot tubs, and other artificial bodies of water, examples of conduct that may trigger premises liability include:
- Installing a pool without a child-resistant enclosure and gate
- Failing to provide lifeguards
- Neglecting to fix slick surfaces due to algae or water leaks
- Mismarking pool depths
- Removing or failing to post warning signs
- Failing to maintain and repair lights, pumps, and heaters
These actions show a lack of due care and prudence toward others. When someone responsible for a pool fails to find and fix a hazardous condition, they may become liable for any injuries.
Who Is Liable for a Swimming Pool Accident?
Liability for a swimming pool accident may fall on the following:
- Hotels and campgrounds
- Homeowners
- Waterparks
- Homeowners associations
- Apartment property managers
- Landlords
Any business or person responsible for maintaining a pool may bear liability for injuries. Even a municipality may be liable, although different procedures apply to claims against government entities. Contact a pool accident lawyer in Lancaster from Atlee Hall to learn about the process in your case.
Possible Compensation for Swimming Pool Accident Claims in Pennsylvania
The compensation for swimming pool injuries covers economic losses like medical bills, lost income, and diminished future earning capacity. It can also reimburse you for out-of-pocket expenses like ambulance fees.
A Lancaster, PA, swimming pool accident lawyer can also pursue non-economic losses. These losses, such as pain, suffering, and disability, arise from the erosion in your quality of life due to your injuries.
Wrongful Death Damages for Swimming Pool Accidents
Wrongful death claims in Pennsylvania compensate the spouse, children, or parents after a fatal swimming pool accident resulting from negligent or wrongful conduct. The compensation recoverable by a drowning accident lawyer in Lancaster, PA, covers the deceased person’s lost future earnings. It can also cover the grieving family’s loss of the companionship and services provided by the deceased.
Was Your Loved One Hurt in a Swimming Pool Accident? Call Atlee Hall Today
Swimming pools are hazardous, no matter your swimming abilities. If you were injured at a swimming pool due to someone else’s negligence, a Lancaster, PA, swimming pool accident lawyer from Atlee Hall stands ready to provide advice and legal representation. We have over 125 years of combined legal experience fighting for people injured on someone else’s property.
Call 717-393-9596 today or contact us for a free consultation with a premises liability attorney in Lancaster, PA.
Areas We Serve
Our swimming pool accident lawyers in Pennsylvania are based in Lancaster, but we take cases across the state as far west as Allegheny County.
Where Were You Injured?
- Lancaster County
- York County
- Dauphin County
- Adams County
- Columbia County
- Cumberland County
- Juniata County
- Lebanon County
- Luzerne County
- Lycoming County
- Mifflin County
- Montour County
- North Umberland County
- Perry County
- Schuylkill County
- Snyder County
- Union County
