Dear parents, Here are 6 safety tips to protect your children and yourself from drowning

According to the World Health Organisation, drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury deaths worldwide.

Drowning, it adds, accounts for an estimated 360,000 deaths annually.

Experts say drowning can happen quickly, like in the brief moment when you leave your baby in the bath to run and grab a forgotten towel or when you leave your child in the pool to answer a ringing phone.

But there are steps you can take to keep your child safe and according to performancehealth.com they include:

1. Keep all doors leading outside to the pool locked and install an alarm that sounds if the door is opened

2. Install a fence around your home pool, whether it’s an in-ground or above-ground pool. The fence should be at least 4 feet high, with no openings below the fence or between posts greater than 4 inches.

3. Remove pool toys after swimming. This way they won’t tempt your child to reach in when you’re not in the pool.

4. Cover your pool with a power safety cover to help protect children from accessing the pool. Be sure to pump rainwater off of the cover promptly, as young children can drown in mere inches of water.

5. Remove or lock the ladder/steps to above ground pools when the pool is not in use.

6. If your child is missing, check the pool first! Seconds count when preventing brain damage or death.