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Harris International Reveals Adults Unaware of Child Drowning Danger
Harris reveals only 19 per cent of Americans are aware that drowning is the leading cause of accidental death among young children.

Los Angeles , CA, June 10, 2003 — Only 19 percent of Americans are aware that drowning is the leading cause of accidental death among children under the age of five, according to a national poll released today by Harris Interactive® and Terrapin Communications. Still, 59 percent of American households with swimming pools have one or more "layers of protection" in addition to property fencing. Measures include: a permanent fence fully surrounding the pool with a self-closing gate, a removable fence fully surrounding the pool, a pool safety cover, a door or gate alarm, or a pool alarm.

"This still leaves 41 percent of pool owners either unaware of what they should be doing to protect children or not taking the threat seriously enough," said Bob Lyons, President of Terrapin Commnunications, manufacturer of Safety Turtle, a personal immersion alarm.

Citing figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and the Consumer Products Safety Commission, Lyons says between 350 and 400 children drown in swimming pools each year. Another 3,000 children are involved in near-drowning incidents. About 1,500 of these children suffer permanent brain damage.

"We commissioned the survey with the hope of educating parents about the ever present danger a pool poses to a young child,” said Lyons. ”A serious accident takes only seconds to unfold. Many children drown within a few feet of their parents. The publicized tragedy at the Malibu home of Rock star Tommy Lee, where a young boy drowned during a birthday party attended by adults, repeats every year in all parts of the country. Drowning is a silent death. Once under water, a toddler is not easily noticed.”

Child Drowning Incidents
Terrapin manufactures the Safety Turtle alarm, a one-of-a-kind system that alerts parents the instant a child falls into water. The easy-to-use alarm consists of an AC powered base station and one or more Turtle wristbands. The Turtle wristband is placed around the child's wrist and is securely locked with a key. Should the child fall into the water, a loud alarm sounds instantly and continues until the alarm is reset.

“The Safety Turtle should be used only as a ‘last line of defense’. Young children must be closely supervised when in an area of potential danger”, said Lyons. “A designated lifeguard is required when the pool is open for use. But reliance on just one measure will not take us where we want to go, which is fewer deaths in backyard pools.”

Safety Turtle has been evaluated and recognized for effectiveness by Good Housekeeping, USA Today and PoolSearch. For more information, visit www.safetyturtle.com or call toll free 1-800-368-8121.

Survey Methodology
The survey was administered on May 28-30, 2003 by Harris Interactive®, via its QuickQuerySM online omnibus, interviewing a nationwide sample of 2,023 U.S. adults (aged 18+), of which 294 owned back-yard pools. Data were weighted to be representative of the total U.S. general adult population on the basis of region, age within gender, education, household income, race/ethnicity and Internet usage. In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a statistical precision of +/-3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. This online survey is not a probability sample.

About Harris Interactive®
Harris Interactive is a worldwide market research and consulting firm best known for The Harris Poll®, and for pioneering the Internet method to conduct scientifically accurate market research. Headquartered in Rochester, New York, U.S.A., Harris Interactive combines proprietary methodologies and technology with expertise in predictive, custom and strategic research. The Company conducts international research through wholly owned subsidiaries-London-based HI Europe and Tokyo-based Harris Interactive Japan — as well as through the Harris Interactive Global Network of local market- and opinion-research firms, and various U.S. offices

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