Education & Training
CPSC’s Pool Safely campaign offers a variety of educational materials for parents and families to learn more about water safety in and around pools and spas. These tools—brochures, tip cards and videos—highlight the water safety steps families can take to be safe while having fun in the water.
CPSC brochures, tip cards, videos and public service announcements are available on this website for your family or to share with your friends and neighbors. Please consider these helpful water safety steps when visiting or purchasing a pool or spa.
Find these Pool Safely materials in our Tools & Resources Section.
Being Prepared in the Water
First and foremost, it is vital that adults and children be able to swim before they enter the water, whether a pool or spa. While knowing how to swim is no guarantee of security, it does provide the most basic level of protection in the water.
Swimming lessons for children provide the skills and knowledge that are necessary to be safer in the water. For adults, swimming lessons can give them the confidence they need to be a good water safety role model for their children.
Swimming courses are available in local communities through a variety of public and nonprofit groups that are our Partners, including from Campaign Safety Partners, the American Red Cross and The Y.
Responding to Incidents of Drowning and Submersion Injuries
If an emergency happens, it is essential parents and families are prepared. That means knowing how to turn off the pool or spa pump should a suction entrapment occur, and where to immediately find rescue equipment, including a long-handled hook or a buoy or flotation device with an attached line. A fully charged telephone should be available at all times to dial 911.
While someone is calling 911 on a telephone near the pool, be prepared to administer CPR – something parents and family members should know and regularly practice if they own a pool or spa. The American Red Cross recommends individuals know CPR before they administer the procedure in an emergency situation.
CPR courses are available in local communities through public and nonprofit groups such as Pool Safely Campaign Safety Partner, the American Red Cross.
Responding to Drain Entrapments
To respond to a drain entrapment, parents and families should immediately cut off the switch for a pool or spa pump. To break a child free of a powerful suction from a drain, a parent can wedge a hand or finger underneath the child next to the drain grate and slowly break the connection between the child and the drain.
To avoid entanglements in pools and spas, parents should make sure children have secured their long hair and are not wearing loose clothing and jewelry. If clothing, hair or jewelry becomes entangled in a pool or spa device, adults should have scissors nearby to free children from drains and other mechanical devices.
Read more about entrapments and entanglements here.
CPSC Educational Videos and Public Service Announcements
CPSC’s Pool Safely campaign educational videos and public service announcements (PSAs) inform parents and families about how to have fun in pools and spas while adopting water safety steps. Pool Safely videos – available in both English and Spanish – focus on seven steps that save lives around pools and spas:
Pool Safely Step 1: Constant supervision is an important step to ensure safety around pools and spas.
Pool Safely Step 2: Making sure pools and spas have secure fencing and gates to keep children safe is an important safety step.
Pool Safely Step 3: Keeping pools or spas covered is an important safety step.
Pool Safely Step 4: There are several types of alarms – door, pool and gate – that sound when something goes wrong around the pool. Adding alarms to your safe pool practices may save a life.
Pool Safely Step 5: Pool and spa safety drain covers are an important safety step and are required by law.
Pool Safely Step 6: Drownings and close calls are eight times more likely to happen to kids who can’t swim.
Pool Safely Step 7: Knowing CPR could save a life, and it’s an important safety step to have around the pool.
All CPSC educational videos are available on the Pool Safely video page.
What our Partners are Doing
