Family Seeks To Bring Izzy’s Law To South Carolina

Swimming season is here again, and with it, the grim reminders of the dangers of swimming.  If you swim in freshwater rivers or lakes, you are in the company of menaces great and small, from the American alligator to Naegleria fowleri, the amoeba that causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, which has a survival rate of less than ten percent.  If you swim in the ocean, you could get swept away in the current.  It stands to reason that you are safest if you stick to swimming pools, but remember that several children drown in swimming pools each year.  South Carolina has witnessed incidents where children have drowned in above ground pools in people’s backyards, as well as in hotel pools or public pools that they entered when there was no lifeguard on duty.  It only makes sense that parents enroll their children in swimming lessons so that they will learn the skills they need to swim to shore or survive in the water until help arrives.  The family of a boy who drowned during a swimming lesson hopes that South Carolina will implement laws that will protect other children from the fate her son suffered.  If you or your child has been injured in a swimming pool where there was ostensibly adequate adult supervision, contact a Columbia premises liability lawyer.

Swimming Lessons Should Make Children Safer in the Water

In May 2023, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed SB 107, known as Izzy’s Law, into law.  The law is named after Israel “Izzy” Scott, who drowned during a private swim lesson in 2022 when he was four years old.  Izzy was one of ten children in the class.  Izzy’s mother Dori spread the word about the dangers of having too many children in one swim class.  Izzy’s law sets regulations about the teacher to student ratio in swimming lessons.  Ten preschool-aged children is more than one teacher can safely supervise at one time.  The law also requires two adults to be present at group swim lessons for children, one to concentrate on teaching the children and interacting with them directly, and the other to act as a lifeguard and to keep his or her attention or where each of the children are at any moment and respond if one of them is in danger or distress.

Dori Scott hopes that South Carolina legislators will propose a law similar to Izzy’s law to keep the children of South Carolina safe during swimming lessons, which will enable them to stay safe during recreational swimming.  Children are never too young to start learning to swim, but they must have proper adult supervision at all times when learning, in order to prevent catastrophic outcomes.

Let Us Help You Today

The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you pursue a lawsuit or insurance claim if you got injured in a preventable accident in a swimming pool.  Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.

Source:

wistv.com/2023/05/11/its-daily-struggle-georgia-mother-whose-son-drowned-looking-bring-new-legislation-sc/