Water Safety Guarantee

One of the most important guarantees of safety on the water is the ability to swim well. But even the best swimmer must be constantly careful, disciplined and strictly adhere to the rules of safe behavior.
How do you know if a person is drowning?
When a person drowns, his body, as a rule, stands upright in the water, his head now and then hiding in the waves. A drowning man convulsively waves his arms, and then the waves stop altogether.

Don’t dive in unfamiliar places

Do not swim behind the buoys, remember: there may be algae, a sharp drop in the bottom or a cold spring. Do not play games that involve trapping a person in the water. In the midst of excitement, you can accidentally prevent a person from breathing air in time, and he will simply choke. If something happens in the water, never get scared or scream. While screaming, water can get into the lungs, and this is precisely the biggest danger.

If you find yourself in the water without knowing how to swim?

Lie down on the water with your arms spread wide and breathe as deeply and infrequently as possible. While standing upright, move your legs as if you were pedaling.

If you’re tired:

Then rest on the water, lying on your back. To do this, straighten your arms and legs, lay your head on the water and relax.

If you’re cold:

Keep warm by tensing your arms and legs in turn. After resting, swim back to the shore.

If you have a cramped leg:

Immerse yourself headlong into the water and, straightening your leg, with force, pull your foot towards you by your thumb.

If you fall into a funnel and get swirled in a whirlpool:

Take plenty of air into your lungs, dive and, sharply pushing off with your feet, jump to the side.

If you are caught in a strong current:

1. Don’t waste your energy and don’t fight it. 2. When swimming in a river, simply follow the current, heading diagonally towards the nearest bank. Seeing a bend ahead, rush to its inner radius, where the current is calmer. 3. There may be a strong current at sea. There are shallows, usually hidden from view under water. Waves that roll on the shore during high tide hours fall into the space between the shallows, and as a result, a reverse current occurs towards the open sea. Once in such a current, do not be afraid, let it carry you. Soon you will feel that his speed has noticeably decreased. Then turn around and swim along the shore until you get out of the current completely.

If you’re confused by seaweed:

1. As soon as you feel that algae have begun to stick to your legs, preventing you from swimming, do not stop and do not flounder in place, randomly moving your legs – you will become even more confused. 2. Sharply pushing off with both feet, try to free yourself. 3. If it was not possible to do this right away, rub alternately with one foot the other, rolling algae off them. 4. Do not dive, otherwise the algae may entangle your neck. 5. Once free, swim carefully, trying to move your legs less until you pass a dangerous place.

If you find yourself in the water without knowing how to swim:

If you can’t swim, try to stay on the surface of the water until help arrives. Try lying face up on the water with your arms spread wide and breathing as deeply and as infrequently as possible. So you use less energy. Staying on the surface for a long time is possible in a different way. Move your feet as if you were pedalling. Without ceasing, splash your hands on the water, transferring part of the load to them and maintaining balance. Staying upright, bend both legs at the same time, spreading your knees to the sides, and then sharply straighten them.

If you are afloat without life-saving equipment:

Your actions will depend on whether you can swim or not, whether the water is cold or warm, and how far is it to the shore. If you know how to swim, then, once in cold water far from the shore, it is best to wait for rescue while lying on your back. If the water is very cold, you may experience shock in the first minutes. Keep your head as high above the water as possible until the initial shock wears off. Try to control your breathing as much as possible. Look for any floating object with your eyes and grab onto it to make it easier to stay afloat until rescuers arrive. In warm water, you can stay afloat for several days without much physical effort. Lying on your stomach, take a deep breath, relax by plunging your head into the water and stretching your arms out in front of you; hold your breath as long as possible. Then exhale under water and, lowering your arms, raise your head just enough so that water does not enter your mouth. Repeat everything from the beginning. If there are no floating objects nearby to grab onto, try making something like a “cushion” out of your clothes. Pants made of waterproof fabric are best suited for this. After removing them, tie both legs in knots at the ends. Throw it behind your head, holding it by the belt and with a sharp movement, immerse the bell into the water. There will be some air in the pants. Slip the inflated pants under your armpits and lie down on them with your chest. So you can at least take a break, although from time to time you will have to inflate your “pillow” again. When they find you and throw a lifebuoy, lift it from one end and put it on top of your head and one of your hands. After that, put your other hand inside the circle.

Precautions when rescuing a drowning person

In cold water, do not take off your clothes to avoid hypothermia. You should only take off your shoes and pull everything out of your pockets;

Make sure that the drowning man doesn’t grab onto you. If this cannot be avoided, use special release techniques:

1. If he grabs your leg, quickly lower it while getting upright. Raise the other leg and, resting it on the shoulder or chest of the drowning person, push off from him, leaning back with your whole body.

2. If he grabbed you in front, take him with both hands under the armpits and, lifting him up, push him away from you.

3. If he grabs your neck from behind, lower your head as low as possible so that his hands do not close around your throat. Squeeze the wrist of his higher hand tightly and jerk forward sharply, lifting his elbow with the other hand. Once behind him in this way, you will block one of his hands.

4. In extreme cases, dive headlong into the water and, emerging behind the drowning man, tightly grab his shoulders.

5. Try to calm the panicking person and convince him that he will be saved only if he obeys you.

Memo “First aid to a drowning person after being removed from a reservoir”

After removing the victim from the reservoir, it is necessary to check if he is conscious

Methods of checking consciousness and breathing

1. Gently shake the victim by the shoulders and ask: “What is the matter with you? Need help?

2. Open his/her airways. To do this, put your hand on the forehead of the victim, raise his chin with two fingers of the other hand and tilt his/her head back. Bend your cheek and ear to the mouth and nose of the victim, look at his/her chest.

Listen to his/her breath, feel the exhaled air on your cheek, determine the presence or absence of chest movements (within 10 seconds).

3. If there is no breathing, instruct the assistant to call an ambulance: “The person is not breathing. Call an ambulance. Let me know that you have called.”

Rules for pressure on the chest (performed only on a hard, flat surface)

1. Place the base of your palm in the middle of the victims chest.

2. Lock your fingers. Straighten your arms at the elbow joints, place your shoulders over the victim so that the pressure is perpendicular to the plane of the sternum. Perform pressure with your hands on the sternum of the victim with the weight of your entire body, to a depth of 5-6 cm with a frequency of 100-120 per minute.

3. For children under one year old, pressure is applied to the sternum with two fingers. Older children – with one or two hands (fingers are taken in the lock).

In adults, the base of the palm of one hand is placed in the middle of the victim’s chest, the second hand is placed on top of the first, the hands are taken in the lock.

The sequence of artificial respiration

1. Tilt the victim’s head back, placing one hand on his/her forehead, lifting his/her chin with two fingers of the other hand.

2. Pinch the victim’s nose with two fingers. Take your normal breath, sealing your lips around the victim’s mouth and exhale evenly into his/her airway for 1 second, watching his/her chest rise. No more than 10 seconds should be spent on 2 breaths of artificial respiration.

3. Alternate 30 chest compressions with 2 rescue breaths, regardless of the number of people resuscitating.

If the victim is breathing, put him in a stable lateral position, monitor his condition, provide psychological support and wait for the arrival of an ambulance.

Created based on materials from the official Internet portal EMERCOM of the Russian Federation