KDHE Encourages Safe Labor Day Boating Practices

Wear Life Jackets/Prevent Carbon Monoxide Poisoning around Boats

Annually, Labor Day Weekend, September 3-6, marks the traditional last extended weekend of summer outdoor activity. Kansas lakes and streams will experience an increase in boating activity, which makes boating safety a top priority for safe summer fun.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) encourages Kansas boat operators to practice two of the most important basic safe boating practices that can reduce the risk of injury or death to boat passengers - require passengers to wear personal flotation devices (PFDs) and properly maintain engines and exhaust systems to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.

Drownings:

"It is estimated that 85 percent of boating-related drownings could have been prevented if the victim had been wearing a life jacket. Unfortunately, many tweens (ages 8-14) admit that they never wear a life jacket when on a boat, participating in water sports, or riding a personal watercraft." said Jan Stegelman , KDHE Injury Program Manager. " Some parents mistakenly believe that toys and swimming aids, like air-filled water wings, can protect their child from drowning."

Stegelman noted decreases in unintentional drowning death rates among Kansas' children ages 0-14 in the last 10 years lag behind decreases nationally (nine percent decrease in Kansas compared to 29 percent decrease nationally).

For safer boating operations, KDHE recommends the following:

• Always supervise children in or near water.
• Make sure your child wears a U.S. Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device (PFD) when on a boat, near open bodies of water or when participating in water sports. Air-filled "swimming aids" are not considered safety devices and are not substitutes for PFDs.
• Children age 15 and under should never operate a personal watercraft alone. (State law states that anyone 12 - 15 years of age cannot operate a personal watercraft unless a person 17 years of age or older is aboard the personal watercraft).
• Teach children always to swim with a buddy, never alone.
• Be aware of the nature of the water. An open body of water that looks virtually motionless may have a strong undercurrent. Be aware of undercurrents and the changing nature of waves.
• Do not assume your child is "drown-proof." Even though your child may have taken lessons and learned to swim, he or she still needs to wear a PFD.
• Swim in designated areas and be aware of the hazards. It is important to swim in designated swimming areas, and to be aware of objects beneath the water's surface such as limbs, rocks and other hazards that can pose dangers to swimmers.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning:

Another boating hazard on the increase is injuries or death from carbon monoxide poisoning (CO). CO is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is a nonirritating lethal poison that is produced when fuels such as gasoline are burned.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics more than 2,500 people in the United States will die each year from CO poisoning, and more than 10,000 will be hospitalized. The most common source of carbon monoxide is exhaust from gasoline or diesel engines such as those on boats and cars. Cooking ranges, heaters, and charcoal grills also produce CO.

It is important to be knowledgeable of how carbon monoxide is produced and where it can accumulate in and around a boat, and then avoid those areas.

The United States Coast Guard has been working with boat manufacturers to change their exhaust designs to avoid the buildup of CO in areas of a boat where passengers frequent. CO can quickly collect in areas around swim platforms or back decks of the boat where engine exhausts exit.

Even in apparently well-ventilated areas, passengers can be overcome with fumes that lead to weakness, confusion, and unconsciousness that could result in drowning. CO poisonings are traditionally reported as 'drowning' and not tested for as a cause of death unless requested.

Coast Guard research indicates that CO concentrations can be deadly in these boating situations:

• Under/near the swim platform when the generator is operating on boats with stern (back) exhaust;
• Between the houseboat hulls when tied side-by-side and using side-exit exhaust generators;
• On the boat's rear deck under varying weather conditions; and
• For employees working on marine engines without adequate air movement.

Recent news reports of CO boating deaths or injuries have shown victims were on the boat's back deck or swim platform located over the engine's rear-mounted exhaust. CO exhaust gases were trapped in this design and resulted in CO concentrations above fatal levels. The Coast Guard recommends boat owners consult their manufacturers about design recalls or retrofitting their exhaust designs for safer boating operations.

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary recommends that all recreational water users become familiar with the boating safety laws of Kansas. For more information about safe boating, go to www.safekids.org , or www.safeboatingcouncil.org .

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