Serious and fatal swimming pool accidents are a tragically regular occurrence in South Florida.

   In just the first five months of 2008, five pool drownings and at least 10 near drownings were reported just in the City of Cape Coral.

   In fact, Florida has the highest drowning death rate in the nation for children under 5, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. In 2005, there were 50 reported drownings of children not yet old enough to start school.

   And reports of people being seriously injured or killed by outdated or malfunctioning pool drain covers and other pool equipment continue to be reported.

   At Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Personal Injury Lawyers, you will find the knowledgeable attorneys and staff members to assist in determining if someone else's negligence could be responsible for such tragedies.

   Responsible parties in such cases can include caregivers and babysitters, landlords, property owners, condo and homeowner's associations and even builders and contractors.

   One factor to consider is when the pool was constructed. Florida lawmakers set forth specific rules in 2000 for the design and construction of residential pools under the Ibern/McKenzie Merriam Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act.

Preston de Ibern/McKenzie Merriam Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act

The law requires that all new residential swimming pools, hot tubs, and spas have as standard equipment one or more of these four safety measures:

• Barrier surrounding the entire pool required to be 4 feet tall
• An approved pool cover
• All pool entrance points to the pool area must have self-closing and self-locking devices
• Every door and window in a home with direct access to the pool is required to have an alarm.

   Nearly one out of every 4 of the state's residential pools - more than 225,000 - have been built during the recent real estate boom after the law took effect and must include such safeguards. Statistics gathered in 2006 by the Florida Department of Health's Office of Injury Prevention and Florida Sate University found more than 1 million residential pools now dot the state.

   Lee County ranks fourth of the state's 67 counties for the most number of pools. In fact, from 2000 through the end of the study in 2006 - more pools were added in Lee County than anywhere else in Florida - 19,141. The county's 81,622 pools ranked it fourth-most in the state, just behind Miami-Dade's 84,015.

    If you or someone you love needs professional representation in the wake of a swimming pool accident, we urge you to call any of our offices in Naples, Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Port Charlotte, Arcadia, Venice and Sebring.

   At Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, you'll pay us nothing unless we win.