1. Never leave a child unsupervised in a pool or spa. Most drowning and near-drowning incidents happen when a child falls into a pool or is left alone in the bathtub.

2. Designate someone to supervise children in the pool or spa. The person should not be distracted by reading, texting, or using a smart phone.

3. Learn how to swim, and teach your child how to swim once they reach the age of 3. But remember that knowing how to swim does not make anyone “drown-proof.”

4. Learn how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on children and adults.

5. If you’re visiting a public pool, you must still keep an eye on your kids. Have children swim with a buddy. Remember that lifeguards aren’t babysitters, and they have more to look after than your children.

6. Remember that air-filled or foam toys, such as water wings, noodles and inner-tubes, are not life jackets and are not designed to keep swimmers safe. After using a home pool, remove pool toys from the deck and other visible areas so they do not draw the attention of children to the pool.

7. Teach children to stay away from pool drains, pipes and other openings to avoid entrapment. A drain entrapment occurs when a body is held against a pool or spa drain by the force of the pool’s suction. If a small child is trapped sitting on a faulty drain, in addition to potentially drowning, the child’s bowels and other abdominal organs can be damaged or actually drawn out of their body by the suction of the drain.

8. Make sure that any pool or spa you use has drain covers that comply with federal safety standards. I

9. All home pools should install a four foot or higher fence around the perimeter of the pool and use self-closing and self-latching gates.

10. Install pool and gate alarms to let you know when children go near the water and ask neighbors to do the same.