Swimming and wading

Swimming is a very popular summertime recreational activity. Sadly, preventable accidents happen each year. This page discusses safety precautions to help you avoid such accidents.

Do not swim in unsupervised areas that are not set up for swimming

Most drownings occur in natural bodies of water such as rivers and lakes, as well as artificial ponds. For your safety, we recommend that you never swim in places without swimming infrastructure or supervision, especially if swimming is explicitly prohibited.

Safety in and around water, first and foremost

When you go to a public beach or swimming pool, you also have your own share of responsibilities to ensure your safety and the safety of any child you are accompanied by.

• Do not send your children at the swimming pool or at the beach all by themselves; they should be accompanied by a person of authority.
• Do not bring alcoholic beverages nor glass containers or recipients inside the swimming pool area or at the beach.
• Do not shove or jostle your way around or near a swimming pool.
• Cooperate with the lifeguards and never hesitate to notify the personnel of any situation that you may deem suspicious or dangerous.
• Do not run around the swimming pool.
• Comply with the rules set out by the swimming pool authorities, including the “diving forbidden” signs.
• When and where diving is allowed, do so only in a water depth of at least twice your height.

Wear a life jacket while participating in water sports activities.

Notify us when you witness an accident or incident

If you have been witnessing an incident or accident in a swimming and wading public facility, you may notify us about it by completing the form Report an accident. This information will help us focus our actions on ensuring public safety.

If your child goes to a day camp

In order to better guarantee the users’ safety, we advise the owners and operators of bathing places to make sure that there is an adequate exchange of information between the day camp leaders and the monitor-lifeguards, especially with regard to the number of children present and their proficiency in water, the particular features of the body of water, the safety instructions and the duty of each intervener.