Accidents seldom "just happen," and many can be prevented.  According to the National Safety Council, 85 percent of all accidents are preventable; accidents that might have occurred are prevented or reduced by those who develop and execute risk management programs.
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 Planning will reduce the number of potential risk exposures that are present in different environments.  A facilities safety inspection or walk-through is a great place to start planning for swim meet safety.
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How do USA Swimming and Risk Management Services, Inc. find out when an accident occurs?  The Report of Occurrence form, supplied to all club and non-athlete members in annual membership mailings, is used for this purpose.  Reporting all incidents, no matter how minor, is important to inform both USA Swimming and its insurer of accidents and potential claims.
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Accident statistics are very boring.  Numbers are worse.  Yet each of those incidents was an injury, usually to a child.  If we thought about the children who were hurt, all of us would feel upset.  As a statistic, it is not painful at all.  Fortunately, most injuries are minor.  Statistics are not attention grabbers unless you are a politician up for election.  To get the meat from the numbers requires an application in reality - The reality of your situation.  In the current vernacular, "What’s in it for me?" .  Learn more.

Hypothermia is defined as a core temperature of less than 95 degrees F or 35 degrees C.  Your normal core body temperature is usually right around 98.6 F or 37 C.  In hypothermia, your body fails to maintain a normal temperature.  Factors contributing to hypothermia include age, health, nutrition, body size, exhaustion, exposure, duration of exposure, wind, temperature, wetness, medication and intoxicants. These factors may decrease heat production, increase heat loss, or inhibit thermo stability.  Learn more.

Planning will reduce the number of potential risk exposures that are present in different environments, including practice sessions, meets, and swim team related activities such as picnics and parties.  A facilities safety inspection or walk-through is a great place to start planning for swim meet safety.  Learn more.

How safe are we?  Reducing the risk of injury will make the practice area safer for our athletes and coaches.  We suggest reviewing these and any other safety issues with your athletes prior to the beginning of a new season and throughout the season.

“Have you thought about which medicines may keep you out of the pool?”

USA Swimming (USA-S) adheres to the anti-doping rules of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA).  The anti-doping rules consist of regulations, developed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which list those performance enhancing drugs that are prohibited during competition and /or practice.  Learn more.

Exposure to ultraviolet light, UVA or UVB, from sunlight accounts for 90% of the symptoms of premature skin aging such as wrinkles and skin cancers.  The most important skin-care product available to prevent wrinkles and skin cancer is sunscreen, but most people do not use sunscreen correctly.  Important factors to consider with sunscreen use are the spectrum of UV radiation absorbed, the amount of sunscreen applied, and the frequency of application.  Learn more.

With the long course season coming to an end and with the championship meets being held soon, we should review our meet safety.  Virginia Swimming recently adopted new meet safety guidelines.  Adherence to these guidelines is mandatory at all meets.  By following the guidelines your chances of not getting injured are greatly improved.  Learn more.