Water Safety Tips

Child practicing swimming with a kickboard during a supervised swim lesson in a pool.

Drowning is the leading cause of death for children under four years old, and Florida leads the nation with the most pediatric drownings.

In 2025, Florida recorded a tragic new high in childhood drownings, with many of the drownings occurring in the Central Florida region.

Pediatric drownings remain one of the most heartbreaking but preventable deaths.

Families can take proactive steps to help prevent accidental drownings by learning and following the ABCs of Water Safety. These simple but important precautions can help keep children safe in and around the water.

ABCs of Water Safety

A – Active Adult Supervision

Adult assisting a young child during a swim lesson while an instructor oversees participants in a pool.

Assign a specific adult as the designated water watcher. The water watcher’s sole responsibility is to have eyes on swimmers at all times with a direct line-of-sight attention, and absolutely no distractions. This includes no phones, magazines, books, performing other chores and no drinking alcohol. Rotate water watchers every half hour so, no one gets fatigued.

Make sure to keep infants, toddlers, and weak swimmers within arm’s reach at all times. Also, never rely on floaties, this includes inflatable wings, rafts and pool toys as they are not a replacement for a life jacket and active adult supervision.

B – Barriers

Install barriers that will prevent a child from gaining unsupervised access to water. This includes a four-sided pool fence with self-closing and self-latching gates that completely encloses pools and spas.

Install door alarms to help notify when a child enters an area near a body of water. The Orlando Fire Department offers free door alarm installations for all City of Orlando homeowners through its Community Care Alarm program.

Request a Community Care Alarm

C – Classes

Orlando Fire Department instructor demonstrating hands-only CPR techniques with a child during a community safety class.

There is no substitute for learning to swim and knowing CPR. The City of Orlando Families, Parks and Recreation Department offers swim classes for children and adults.

The Orlando Fire Department offers free hands-only CPR classes for City of Orlando residents and organizations through its Take Heart Orlando Program. CPR help save lives as every minute without CPR a patient’s chance of survival lowers by 10 percent.

Learn more about Take Heart Orlando

Contact Us

Email

ofdpublicrelations@orlando.gov