Apartment Pool Drownings

All apartment complexes are responsible and want to keep their property safe. Unfortunately, they often don't have the time or resources to do so. Inadequate pool maintenance causes serious accidents every year.

Were you injured in a pool accident, or did you lose a loved one through a wrongful drowning that could have been prevented if not for another's negligence? At Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC, our personal injury attorneys are legal advocates for drowning victims and those harmed in pool accidents.

Call a Chicago drowning attorney at (888) 424-5757 (toll-free phone number) or use the contact form to schedule a free consultation. All confidential or sensitive information you share with our legal team remains private through an attorney-client relationship.

Every year, hundreds of people drown in apartment pool accidents. Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children under five and adults age 65 or older. According to the CDC, more than 300 people drown each year in apartment pools.

Suppose an apartment complex fails to keep its swimming pools safe and warns visitors if something isn't working correctly. The law is clear that it's the pool owner's responsibility to ensure all visitors' safety. So, apartment owners should fix a faulty diving board to minimize risk and avoid permanent injury.

Apartment building managers should not risk liability for a head injury causing unconsciousness caused by a poorly maintained swimming pool. Ensure all safety equipment is always in good condition.

Don't hesitate to contact our law firm for legal advice or any questions about keeping your pool area safe for everyone who visits, thereby avoiding injuries, medical bills, and deaths!

Swimming Pools: Apartment Complex Amenity

Apartment buildings often provide a public swimming pool as a welcome addition to entice new tenants. Still, if pool safety isn't taken care of properly, dangerous situations can arise that result in serious injuries necessitating extensive medical care or apartment pool drowning.

When a youngster is harmed due to a pool mishap, it's critical to look for any potential pool owner who might have done something to avoid the accident in the first place.

A law firm with experience in swimming pool accidents can offer a free consultation and determine whether the apartment owner was negligent or broke pool safety laws. If an apartment complex fails to adhere to safety standards, victims of injuries may seek compensation under the law to cover their medical expenses.

Private Pools Versus Public Pools

Pool owners are responsible for the safety of their pools, relevant rules, enforcement, and liability.

Private and public pools are defined separately in Illinois law. Swimming pool rules determine the liable parties for injuries caused by a drowning accident. Lifeguards must be on duty for safety reasons if children under the age of sixteen use the pool.

A building owner, apartment owner, or property manager responsible, an insurance company may be held liable for near-drowning or swimming pool accidents that result from a failure to provide a safe pool environment.

During off-hours, pool gates should be in place to prevent individuals from gaining access to the pool when it is unsupervised to avoid pool accidents. In addition, ensure that small children cannot access the pool unsupervised, resulting in an apartment pool drowning.

Some Causes of Apartment Pool Drownings Involving Children

One of the main causes of apartment pool drowning is that some pools are not properly maintained and cleaned. In addition, some pools lack a safety device to prevent a swimming pool accident. As a result, several children have drowned in apartment pools because they were left unsupervised.

Causes of apartment pool drownings:

• Getting out of the pool area and into ladders without proper supervision.
• No barriers around the pool to prevent the entrance or exit.
• Being afraid to ask for help getting out of the pool (children).
• Not paying attention to other children in and near the water, not knowing how they might react.
• Malfunctioning or defective pool gates allow children easy access to the swimming pool area (pool maintenance company liability).
• Putting too much chlorine in the pool results in drowning accidents.
• Leaving children in or near water (unsupervised) when there is a storm warning out.
• Lack of Emergency Care: Failure to provide someone to stay with an injured person while waiting for paramedics and not call 911 soon enough.
• There is a lack of swimming lessons for adults and teens who have not been taught how to swim correctly; they can drown in apartment pools even though they live nearby. It is true for people who have limited experience swimming and those who may be more experienced swimmers. In these cases, the people drown because they don't completely understand the hazards of the pool environment.

Taking Children to an Apartment Pool

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children one to four years old, with about 80% of these deaths occurring in residential swimming pools.

Please do not take small children to an apartment pool without following these safety tips. No matter how well you think you can manage, the possibility of an apartment drowning accident is high, with even the smallest child close to water.

Don't be afraid to ask for help. If you cannot get out of a swimming pool without help, then it means that there are safety risks associated with this type of activity. Do not attempt to perform strenuous swimming if you lack the strength to get out of the pool.

Some Solutions: All adults who use swimming pools and spas must take time to learn life-saving techniques and CPR. The American Red Cross offers life-saving courses that help save lives. However, if the diving accidents are severe, the victims might require extensive medical care.

The most common cause of death for young children is pool drowning, with toddlers being two times more likely to drown than older kids. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that your toddler knows how to swim and that you keep them under constant supervision when they are near water.

Causes of Apartment Pool Drownings Involving Adults

Statistically, adults are just as likely to be severely injured in an apartment drowning accident when the joy of being outdoors in a wet environment outweighs staying safe around the pool. Common examples of how adults are at risk of an apartment pool drowning include:

• Never learning how to swim: Even if you have experience swimming in another location, having experience swimming at another location does not mean you can swim well in a large community or apartment pool.
• Poolside intoxication: doing drugs or alcohol: Many adults and teens die each year by drowning in apartment pools after consuming alcohol and drugs. It is especially true if the adult or teen has not had much experience swimming or chooses to swim in a pool containing strong chemicals such as chlorine.
• Horsing around: Even minimal horseplay can cause catastrophic results at the poolside or when swimming. Due to apartment pool accidents that are often tragic for adults, it's best to avoid horsing around in the pool.
• A lack of security: Apartment complex management, supervisors, and security team must ensure the area remains protected. Any lack of protection can result in apartment pool accidents, such as breaking into the pool area.
• Inadequate safety measures: In many cases, adults drown because necessary protective measures were not taken at an apartment complex or community pool, including:
  • Lack of emergency care: While waiting for paramedics to arrive at the drowning scene where the victims require extensive medical care if necessary.
  • The absence of life-saving equipment: Unavailability of life-saving equipment at the pool can lead to adults drowning, such as a lifeguard or a safety ring.

Having quick access to life-saving equipment can help the drowning victim avoid a catastrophic death and provide ample time for someone to pull the potential drowning person out of the water.

Solutions for Adult Apartment Pool Drownings

Not knowing how to swim well can be a serious risk to your life and may result in a swimming pool accident if you go near any body of water. Even though you might have swum in pools or at beaches before, this does not mean that you can swim effectively in large pools.

If you cannot get out of a pool on your own, without help from another person, it is time to take swimming lessons at a local pool or beach or buy some water safety equipment for the home.

It is also important to pay attention when socializing near a body of water. The apartment pool accidents that have resulted in death have often happened due to horseplay, so if you are having fun by fooling around, stop before the mood changes, and someone is hurt or killed.

Alcohol consumption should never go beyond responsible limits near a pool, as even small amounts of alcohol can cause you to feel tired faster than you realize.

Never swim in a pool if you have consumed alcohol or drugs, even if it is just over the limit for being drunk. The blood-alcohol level can be so minimal that it does not impair your ability to walk, but the reaction time required to survive an apartment pool drowning will not exist.

Apartment Complex Liability for Swimming Pool Injuries

A swimmer drowning in a swimming pool may be due to many factors, including dangerous pool conditions (i.e., an absence of fencing) and negligent lifeguards (i.e., failure to notice when someone has gone underwater).

When pool accidents occur on an apartment property, questions often arise about the owner's responsibility for pool safety. The legal responsibility for a swimming pool accident is highly state-specific. The liability of a law firm in each state will be different depending on the state's premises liability rules.

When a swimmer is harmed, pool owners, including individual pool proprietors in residential areas. Apartment owners and property owners of pools in a public place such as a municipality or hotel may be held responsible.

The fundamental rules of premises liability in the state where the pool is located are to blame. However, federal standards ensure that public pools are safe and that the necessary safety gear is supplied.

Private Pool Liability

Any guests or people at the pool owner's home who are not informed of any hazards must be warned. For example, if children are too small or weak to climb out of the pool by themselves, a ladder must be supplied. If something in the pool is hazardous (e.g., an algae bloom), it needs to be removed immediately after notice, or there could be legal repercussions for leaving it there.

Homeowners planning to have a party or children over to swim from your neighborhood might be liable for mild to serious injuries and medical expenses that happen to those children due to not supervising them, leading to an apartment pool drowning. Personal injuries sustained in swimming pool accidents can be serious and even fatal. It is the responsibility of all home pool owners to take this seriously.

Public Pool Liability

Apartment complexes and hotel pools might be covered under federal standards, while state laws usually govern municipal pools. Private apartment owners' association rules also determine liability for serious injuries in a homeowner's pool.

Typically, it depends on whether the property owner where the head injury causing unconsciousness occurred had control over the condition that caused the harm. If so, they are liable for whatever harm resulted from that condition.

For example, an apartment complex property owner might be held legally liable for any broken or in disrepair equipment should their failure to fix it results in an apartment pool drowning.

Also, should a building owner or apartment manager fail to warn guests about any dangerous condition in the pool (e.g., unsecured ladders), they can be held liable for mild to serious injuries that result from touching or falling on this object.

Lifeguards should be present at hotel pools responsible for safety.

Other Parties Who May Have Liability

In addition to holding the property owner, pool owner, and pool maintenance company legally liable for pool drowning accidents, diving accidents, or near-drowning accidents, there may be other third parties who are also responsible for damages.

Potentially liable parties could include:

• The pool maintenance company
• The electric company
• Manufacturer of defective equipment or chemical supplies
• Manufacturers of swimming pools and their installation
• Supervisors at the apartment complex responsible for pool safety (e.g., lifeguards), and
• Anyone else involved in creating dangerous conditions that led to the swimming pool accident

Though it might be more difficult to prove when there are several liable parties, that does not mean an injured party should deal with it.

A competent apartment drowning attorney can offer a free consultation to determine if a few or several liable parties are responsible, including the insurance company. Your attorney will ensure that compensation arising from injuries includes medical expenses

Common Types of Swimming Pool Accidents

During the warmer months, many families are outdoors enjoying barbecues and time by the pool. But unfortunately, many forget to focus on remaining safe poolside to minimize the potential of swimming pool injuries.

A swimming pool accident can happen in the blink of an eye, where most victims never see it coming. The common types of swimming pool accidents include:

• Slipping, tripping, and falling
• Head injury causing unconsciousness
• Spinal cord damage
• Electrocution from defective wiring or faulty equipment
• Pool drowning and near-drowning
• Swimming pool disembowelment

Statistically, swimming pool accidents happen everywhere, in a backyard pool, a hotel spa, or an apartment complex community pool. Unfortunately, it is extremely common for young children to die of pool drowning and perfect view and supervision of their parents.

Determining Liability When a Landlord or Association Is Involved

Were you or a loved one injured in a pool accident where the condominium or apartment complex failed in duty to its swimmers? If so, seek a free consultation to access legal advice from an experienced accident attorney to explore your legal options regarding the matter.

A thorough evaluation of the case may determine whether the apartment owners or the apartment managers of the pool were negligent due to the refusal to take necessary steps to secure the swimming pool and ensure the safety of the complex's tenants.

Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC is dedicated to helping the injured and has the resources required to connect you with an attorney with extensive experience with cases like yours. Our mission as accident attorneys is to protect your interests so that you do not need to bear the additional weight of medical bills and lost wages.

We will fight until your compensation for severe injuries includes medical expenses and possible future maintenance that you are entitled to receive. All confidential or sensitive information you share with our law firm remains private through an attorney-client relationship.

Hiring a Swimming Pool Accident Attorney to Resolve Your Apartment Complex Compensation Case

Are you the victim of a near pool drowning and an apartment complex, or did you lose a loved one through a wrongful death drowning caused by another's negligence? At Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC, our personal injury attorneys are legal advocates for drowning victims, surviving family members, and those harmed by the negligence of others.

Contact an apartment complex drowning accident attorney today at (888) 424-5757 (toll-free phone number) or use the contact form to schedule a free consultation for immediate legal advice. All confidential or sensitive information you share remains private through an attorney-client relationship.

Our legal team accepts all personal injury cases and wrongful death lawsuits through a contingency fee agreement. This promise ensures you pay nothing until we resolve your case through a negotiated settlement or jury award.

Resources:

• NIH – Swimming pool immersion accidents: analysis from the Brisbane drowning study
• NCBI – Swimming pool immersion accidents