Georgia Injury Attorney Blog

North Georgia Personal Injury Attorneys hope everyone in Northern Georgia has a safe and fun Fourth of July holiday weekend.

And in doing so, that requires dedication to staying safe. Whether it's on the roads or staying close to home this Independence Day, our firm believes that paying close attention to your safety and that of your family members will make the holiday the most enjoyable it can be.

Holidays and vacations can be some of the most memorable times in the lives of family members, but they can also bring back horrible memories if accidents occur. And in more severe accidents, the injuries can create daily reminders of what went wrong.

While car accidents and boating accidents certainly will be dangerous this holiday season with millions of drivers on the roads and thousands of boaters taking advantage of the nice weather, there are many close-to-home dangers people should be aware of.

Fireworks accidents: Fireworks can be fun and entertaining, but they can also be dangerous. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were more than 7,000 fireworks injuries in 2008 nationwide and seven deaths. And children made up 60 percent of the injuries.

These backyard fireworks are designed to work properly, but there are certainly times when the manufacturers design them poorly and they go awry. Bottle rockets and other flying fireworks can injure people's eyes, causing long-term vision problems, as well as severe burns on hands, fingers and legs. According to the CDC, in a one-year period from June 2007 to June 2008, there were 900 firecracker injuries, 800 sparkler injuries, 300 rocket injuries and of the firecracker injuries, 500 were small firecracker injuries. The CDC reports that sparklers burn at 1,000 degrees.

While many believe these are fun, they can obviously be dangerous. We recommend finding a public fireworks display put on by the city or county closest to you and enjoy with your families. Let the professionals do what they do best and enjoy the show from afar. Be careful for falling debris, as these can sometimes happen at fireworks shows, but they are far more safe than personal fireworks.

Swimming accidents and deaths: With the warm weather, kids flock to swimming pools. They are refreshing, are great exercise and are fun to play around. But they can be dangerous.

According to the Georgia Department of Health, between 1999 and 2001, 351 Georgians drowned and 37 percent of those were children under 5.

But while swimming pool deaths are tragic, so are injuries. Children get sucked into pool drains and can get severe injuries and near-drownings can cause life-long brain injuries. It is important that you pay close attention to your children this summer as they play in pools.

If public pools are supposed to be supervised and they aren't and a child is injured, they could be liable. Also, they should have adequate warnings, such as signs or even fences and locks to make sure children are cautious. And there are also manufacturing defects in pools that can cause injuries to anyone because of poor design.

Our Georgia Injury Attorneys wish each of you a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July weekend and we encourage you to watch young children and other guests around the water -- whether a portable backyard pool, an in-ground spa or while enjoying a day out on the water.

Georgia swimming pool accidents are a tragically common occurrence during the warm summer months. As we wrote previously on our Georgia Injury Attorney Blog, negligent parties may include the homeowner, babysitter or caretaker, pool manager or even the swimming pool manufacturer or maker of pool covers, drains or other equipment.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission reported 75 drownings and near drownings by mid-April. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports an average of 10 drowning deaths per day occur in the United States -- a statistic that spikes much higher in the summer.

For every child who dies from drowning, four others will be treated in hospital emergency rooms. Near drowning injuries can be devastating; often including brain damage or other neurological damage. Children under the age of 4 have the highest drowning rate.

And it's a mistake to think a large swimming pool or spa is required; a recent report shows children playing in small portable pools are also at high risk. In the last decade, 244 portable pool submersion accidents were reported among children under the age of 12; all but 35 led to fatal injuries, according to CNN Health. The rate of such accidents increased 500 percent between 2001 and 2005.

The CPSC offers the following pool safety tips:

-Teach children to float or swim as soon as possible.

-Always provide adult supervision around a swimming pool.

-No one should swim alone, including an adult.

-Explain to children the dangers of acting carelessly or recklessly around a swimming pool.

-Never push someone into a pool.

-Go feet first on slides.

-Make sure other swimmers are out of the way before diving or sliding.

-Teach children what to do in the event of an emergency.

-Beware of the use of electrical appliances, such as a radio, around a pool.

-Remember, swimming and excessive alcohol don't mix.

Tips for swimming pool owners include:

-Make sure you are in compliance with local, state and federal ordinances.

-Use non-stick material on decks, ladders, stairs, etc.

-Make sure to utilize proper stairs and handrails.

-Have electrical equipment properly installed by a licensed electrician.

-Make sure your pool is surrounded by a fence or other conforming enclosure.

-Properly mark water depths.

-Keep pool equipment clean and in good repair.

What is ordinary diligence for a Georgia swimming pool injury?

Georgia law, "ordinary diligence is that degree of care which is exercised by ordinarily prudent persons under the same or similar circumstances." O.C.G.A. § 51-1-2. "Negligence consists either of the omission to do an act which ought to be done, or the omission to perform properly what one undertakes to do." Womack v. Central Georgia Gas Company, 85 Ga. App. 799 (1952).

It's that time of year again...swimming pool season in Atlanta, Georgia.

My family spent the weekend watching my oldest son play in a Lacrosse tournament. It was in Roswell Park, a North Atlanta, Georgia recreation complex. As we were walking back to our car, I noticed a lifeguard certification class going on at the public pool. It consisted mostly of college kids, all listening intently to the instructor. The scene instantly flooded my memory of a tragic swimming pool drowning case I handled in Forsyth County last year. Over the next few weeks, I will be posting a series of blogs pertaining to swimming pool safety requirements in Georgia. Hopefully my blogs will help at least one family avoid the tragic consequences of inadequate safety, supervision or maintenance of a swimming pool or water park.

The case I handled last year involved the drowning of a four year old girl. The girl's parents had hired a 35 year old woman to babysit her while they worked. The babysitter was watching the young girl, and a number of other children at the woman's neighborhood swimming pool in Cumming, Georgia. At one point the twin sister of the babysitter agreed to watch the children while the babysitter went back to her home to get some dry clothes. Despite the fact that there were other people at the pool, nobody noticed the girl slip to the bottom until it was too late. Two teenage boys pulled her out of the water, but she could not be resuscitated. She left behind her parents and her eight year old brother