[RBS] Drowning doesn't look like Drowning! (VIDEO: Actual Example) (UNCLASSIFIED)
Ayelet Granick
ayelet526 at gmail.com
Tue Jun 25 10:41:52 IDT 2013
Following last summer's tragic cases of drowning, here's some important
information that everyone should have regarding water safety.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Granek, Reuven LN NAU <reuven.granek.ln at usace.army.mil>
Date: Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 4:00 PM
Subject: FW: Drowning doesn't look like Drowning! (VIDEO: Actual Example)
(UNCLASSIFIED)
To: Ayelet Granick <ayelet526 at gmail.com>
<<DROWNING -USCG SR - On Scene Fall06.pdf>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
-----Original Message-----
From: Bach, Jonathan A NAU
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 12:39 PM
To: DLL-CENAU-ALL Employees
Cc: SharePoint Safety Announcements (safety at naumoss.nau.ds.usace.army.mil)
Subject: Drowning doesn't look like Drowning! (VIDEO: Actual Example)
(UNCLASSIFIED)
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
Do you think that screams and waving arms will quickly alert you to someone
drowning? Think again. That's Hollywood. Drowning doesn't look like
"drowning."
Here's a video of someone at the beach, very close to many other people who
do NOT realize that he is drowning. (you can see the person being rescued if
you keep watching). The first link is a site with a LOT of help in water
and
boating safety. The second is a direct YouTube link for the video only.
http://mariovittone.com/2011/07/video-of-instinctive-drowning-response/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1mVcSUttX4
Each summer we see many drowning deaths of Army soldiers after hours. So
it's obvious, adults drown a lot. Yet for children, the only thing that
kills more of them is car accidents. About half of all children who die
from
drowning are within 25 yards of their parents when it happens, because most
parents just didn't see it happening. Yet in about 1 out of 10 of those
deaths the parent will actually watch them drown - because they didn't
realize their child was drowning. You only have 20 to 60 seconds to respond
before a person goes under for the last time - so LEARN the signs, and teach
them at home.
PLEASE TAKE A COUPLE OF MINUTES TO READ THE EXCELLENT (and interesting)
ARTICLE BELOW MY SIGNATURE BLOCK - or at this link in other languages:
http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/
ALWAYS watch the kids when they're in the water - especially if there is no
life guard!
That said, may we each build some great memories this summer in all the
great
pools, lakes, and beaches in Europe District.
jonathan
Jonathan Bach, PE, CSP, CIH
Safety Manager & Industrial Hygienist
Europe District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
jonathan.a.bach at usace.army.mil
DSN 314-570-2477 CIV 0611-9744-2477 Cell 0171-223-2370
It's free, fast, and could SAVE A LIFE ... SIGN UP:
for Recalls.gov and SafeKids.org
DROWNING DOESN'T LOOK LIKE DROWNING:
by MARIO VITTONE on MAY 3, 2010
in BOATING SAFETY
The new captain jumped from the deck, fully dressed, and sprinted through
the
water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed
straight for the couple swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the
beach. "I think he thinks you're drowning," the husband said to his wife.
They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were
just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. "We're fine, what is he doing?"
she
asked, a little annoyed. "We're fine!" the husband yelled, waving him off,
but his captain kept swimming hard. "Move!" he barked as he sprinted between
the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their
nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of
the captain, she burst into tears, "Daddy!"
How did this captain know - from fifty feet away - what the father couldn't
recognize from just ten? Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for
help that most people expect. The captain was trained to recognize drowning
by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had
learned what drowning looks like by watching television. If you spend time
on
or near the water (hint: that's all of us) then you should make sure that
you
and your crew knows what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until
she cried a tearful, "Daddy," she hadn't made a sound. As a former Coast
Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn't surprised at all by this story. Drowning is
almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling
that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for, is rarely
seen in real life.
The Instinctive Drowning Response - so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is
what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it
does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no
waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. To get an idea of just
how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It
is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under
(just behind vehicle accidents) - of the approximately 750 children who will
drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or
other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually
watch
them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC). Drowning does not
look like drowning - Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard's On Scene
Magazine, described the instinctive drowning response like this:
1. Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically
unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for
breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be
fulfilled, before speech occurs.
2. Drowning people's mouths alternately sink below and reappear above
the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the
surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out
for
help. When the drowning people's mouths are above the surface, they exhale
and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the
water.
3. Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces
them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water's surface.
Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to
leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to
breathe.
4. Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot
voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people
who
are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform
voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or
reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
5. From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people's
bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick.
Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only
struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion
occurs.
Source: U.S. Coast Guard On Scene Magazine: Fall 2006 - the page 14 excerpt
is attached to this email:
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg534/On%20Scene/OSFall06.pdf
This doesn't mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn't
in real trouble - they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present
before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn't last long
- but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own
rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.
Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:
* Head low in the water, mouth at water level
* Head tilted back with mouth open
* Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
* Eyes closed
* Hair over forehead or eyes
* Not using legs - Vertical
* Hyperventilating or gasping
* Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
* Trying to roll over on the back
* Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder.
So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks OK - don't be too
sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that
they don't look like they're drowning. They may just look like they are
treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them,
"Are
you alright?" If they can answer at all - they probably are. If they return
a
blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents -
children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to
them and find out why.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
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