BACKGROUND: The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) does not collect information on public swimming pool-related injuries or deaths. In 2015, ODH initiated a Drowning Prevention Pilot Project to determine the frequency and circumstances surrounding these incidents and inform data-driven revision to statewide public swimming pool rules. The Public Pool and Spa Injury Incident Report Form, developed with consideration of other states’ data collection practices, was distributed to swimming pool operators for voluntary reporting in 23 local health districts (LHDs) during the 2015 outdoor swim season, expanding to 32 LHDs in 2016.
METHODS: Incident reports submitted to ODH during the 2015 and 2016 outdoor swim seasons were analyzed for injured person demographics, injuries sustained and outcomes, and incident settings.
RESULTS: ODH received 83 and 196 reports in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Injured persons averaged 10 years old (2015: mean 9.5; 2016: mean 10.3), male (2015: 67.1%; 2016: 59.0%), and white (2015: 79.0%; 2016: 76.3%). Over half of reports received indicated a water rescue (2015: 59.0%, 2016: 60.7%), though resuscitation breathing was rare (2015: 1.2%, 2016: 1.5%). EMS was not frequently called (2015: 10.8%; 2016: 5.6%). The most common injuries were punctures, lacerations, or bruises (2015: 32.5%; 2016: 32.1%). No drownings were reported in 2015, though three (1.5%) were reported in 2016; reports of near drowning increased in 2016 (2015: 7.2%; 2016: 31.1%). The majority of incidents occurred outdoors (2015: 84.8%; 2016: 54.6%), and the most common sites for incidents were the diving board (2015: 24.1%; 2016: 20.9%) and the slide (2015: 18.1%; 2016: 17.9%).
CONCLUSIONS: The swimming pool injury surveillance program in 2015 and 2016 was useful in characterizing pool-related incidents in Ohio. These data, with feedback from participating LHDs, are likely to result in changes to statewide public swimming pool rules in 2017 to require all drowning and near-drowning incidents be reported to LHDs and then to ODH. Limitations of the study include lack of reports from unguarded pools and missing or invalid responses.