{"id":10171,"date":"2021-11-24T12:12:58","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T17:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/?page_id=10171"},"modified":"2026-05-07T11:37:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:37:22","slug":"adult-supervision","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/swim-healthy\/adult-supervision\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Supervision"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Drowning often occurs quickly and silently, so it is vital that adults providing supervision not be distracted or engaged in other activities, even if lifeguards are present. Inadequate supervision is considered <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/drowning\/prevention\/index.html#:~:text=Supervise%20closely&amp;text=After%20swim%20time%20is%20over,even%20when%20lifeguards%20are%20present.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">one of the major risk factors<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for unintentional drowning.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10172\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10172\" style=\"width: 7500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10172\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/Supervision-Pictograph.png\" alt=\"Pictograph depicting appropriate supervision.\" width=\"7500\" height=\"1800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/Supervision-Pictograph.png 7500w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/Supervision-Pictograph-300x72.png 300w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/Supervision-Pictograph-1024x246.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/Supervision-Pictograph-768x184.png 768w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/Supervision-Pictograph-1536x369.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/Supervision-Pictograph-2048x492.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 7500px) 100vw, 7500px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10172\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image: https:\/\/www.usfa.fema.gov\/prevention\/outreach\/media\/pictographs\/pools_and_swimming.html<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For preschool-aged children, \u201ctouch supervision\u201d is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/publications.aap.org\/pediatrics\/article\/143\/5\/e20190850\/37134\/Prevention-of-Drowning?autologincheck=redirected\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recommended<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, where the supervising adult is within arm\u2019s reach of the child. Children can drown in even just 2 inches of water, so they should be constantly supervised even in shallow water.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10173\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10173\" style=\"width: 418px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10173 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/touch-supervision-1024x498.png\" alt=\"Pictograph depicting touch supervision.\" width=\"418\" height=\"203\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/touch-supervision-1024x498.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/touch-supervision-300x146.png 300w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/touch-supervision-768x374.png 768w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/touch-supervision-1536x747.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/05\/touch-supervision-2048x996.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 418px) 100vw, 418px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10173\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image: https:\/\/www.usfa.fema.gov\/prevention\/outreach\/media\/pictographs\/pools_and_swimming.html<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When there are multiple children and adults at a pool, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends designating a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.poolsafely.gov\/parents\/safety-tips\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cwater watcher\u201d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> who will supervise the children in the pool. This person should meet the following criteria:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">16 years old or older (adults preferred)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">alert and not under the influence of alcohol or drugs<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has the skills, knowledge, and ability to recognize and rescue someone in distress OR can immediately alert a capable adult nearby<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">knows CPR or can alert someone nearby who knows CPR<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has a working phone to dial 9-1-1<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has a floating and\/or reaching object that can be used in a rescue\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Download a printable \u201cwater watcher\u201d card <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.poolsafely.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/CPSC-Water-Watcher-English.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Drowning often occurs quickly and silently, so it is vital that adults providing supervision not be distracted or engaged in other activities, even if lifeguards are present. Inadequate supervision is considered one of the major risk factors for unintentional drowning. For preschool-aged children, \u201ctouch supervision\u201d is recommended, where the supervising adult is within arm\u2019s reach [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":8591,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10171","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Adult Supervision - Environmental Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/swim-healthy\/adult-supervision\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Adult Supervision - Environmental Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Drowning often occurs quickly and silently, so it is vital that adults providing supervision not be distracted or engaged in other activities, even if lifeguards are present. Inadequate supervision is considered one of the major risk factors for unintentional drowning. 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