But posting such a sign, even in several locations, may not be enough to prevent diving injuries. Given that most injuries are among the population most likely to ignore such a sign (young men, especially those who are inebriated or otherwise chemically impaired), the role of the pool owner now becomes a vital part of any warning system. In addition to posting a no diving sign along with depth markers along the sides and ends of the pool, they must orally warn all pool users, especially the friends of their children who might be using the pool for the first time, that there is absolutely no diving in the shallow water of their swimming pool. And unless the pool is at least 9’ deep from the sides or ends, there should be no diving at all in the pool. Obviously, the same rules should apply to diving into any body of shallow water including lakes, rivers and oceans.
Drownings and diving injuries may not be a risk at most amusement parks, but serious injuries and deaths from other risks may be just as prevalent. According to the CPSC, approximately 30,000 permanent and mobile amusement park injuries/year result in a visit to an emergency room. The International Association of Amusement Parks places the number of injuries at about 1500/year, but that only includes data from permanent parks that don’t move around the country. The truth is that nobody really knows because there are NO Federal Regulations for amusement parks. It’s mostly up to the states, many of which only require annual inspections and many of those states leave it up to the park itself to self-inspect and report voluntarily if anyone gets injures. In other words, the fox is running the henhouse with regards to amusement park safety, which means it’s up to each of us to monitor the safety of ourselves and our loved ones.
While most amusement parks post a buffet of signage and loud speaker announcements restricting rides to customers of allowed ages, heights, weights and medical conditions, the ultimate enforcement of these safety rules is typically left in the hands of high school and college teens, 16-18 years old, whose main responsibility is to take tickets from riders, not to act as trained safety officers. While conducting a study of amusement park warnings, I interviewed a number of these teens and asked them why they didn’t enforce the park’s posted warnings. The overwhelming response was, “I didn’t want to embarrass the customer.” In other words, the amusement park’s last enforcer of safety had chosen avoiding embarrassment over avoiding the risk of injury or death.
Yes, summer can be a time of great fun and great joy...as long as we make our own safety and that of our loved ones our highest priority.
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