Clarion Safety Systems and Shallow Water Blackout Prevention Renew Partnership To Help Prevent Drowning

USA - English

• USA - English

Milford, PA (PRWEB) May 30, 2017 -- Clarion Safety Systems, a leading designer and manufacturer of safety signs and safety labels, is renewing its partnership with Shallow Water Blackout Prevention (SWBP), aiding the organization’s efforts to save lives through drowning prevention efforts.

“With SWBP, we’ve found a like-minded organization who shares Clarion’s passion for keeping people safe from harm. We’re proud to be collaborating for increased water safety,” says Derek Eversdyke, Director of Facility Safety Products at Clarion. “We both understand that education and safety signage work hand in hand to save lives.”

SWBP is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness of shallow water blackout. The group was established by Dr. Rhonda Milner in 2011 following the death of her twenty-five year old son, Whitner. Whitner was an avid swimmer who had begun to practice breath holding to increase his free-diving time because of an interest in spear fishing. One evening, in preparation for an upcoming spear fishing event, he practiced long breath holding in the family’s backyard pool and passed out underwater and drowned.

Shallow water blackout occurs when a person passes out without warning while underwater, after extreme, prolonged breath holding preceded by hyperventilation and/or physical exertion without rest. It is a sudden, silent killer; parents and lifeguards supervising pools often fail to detect any danger or crisis before it is too late.

Shallow water blackout deaths are most often due to a lack of knowledge of the dangers of breath holding under water. As part of their partnership, Clarion and SWBP are committed to sharing educational resources on drowning prevention and effective pool safety signage. In fact, SWBP has a section on its website devoted to signage education.

“One of our ultimate goals here at SWBP is for safety signage to be posted at all public and private pools. An important safety step that we advocate is posting Clarion’s 'No Long Breath Holding' signs at pool-side,” says Dean Haller, Executive Director of SWBP and the father of a shallow water blackout victim. “The purchase of these signs not only helps to protect your pool area – it also helps support the work of SWBP.”

As part of the organizations’ water safety partnership, Clarion is donating $5 of each sign sale to SWBP. Clarion’s innovative “No Long Breath Holding” signs explain the hazard of underwater breath holding and how to avoid it, using a standards-based graphical symbol to convey the message to all age groups and across language barriers. Clarion offers two styles of “No Long Breath Holding” signs that are intended to work together to explain the dangers of shallow water blackout and then to reinforce the message. In addition to these stand-alone signs, the “No Long Breath Holding” message can be incorporated into multi-hazard signs and multi-lingual signs.

Clarion’s signs have been featured on both CNN and ABC News’ Good Morning America during segments on shallow water blackout. These pool safety products are an integral part of Clarion’s pool safety sign system product line, which includes tabletop placards, signs for front gates, signs for locker rooms, signs for use at poolside and safety cones. Clarion’s signs use state-of-the-art graphical symbols, color, language and special formatting to communicate the most serious water safety hazards. After developing its sign system using internationally-formatted graphical symbols, Clarion put its effectiveness at conveying the intended messages to the test. Testing was designed by a third-party, Applied Safety and Ergonomics, Inc., a globally-respected group of human factors experts, and conducted by the National Drowning Prevention Alliance. The results confirm that the graphical symbols, text and design philosophy in Clarion signs enable quick and effective understanding of the most important pool safety messages.

How to Learn More About Shallow Water Blackout and Effective Pool Safety Signage:

• Visit SWBP.org’s website for resources on signage
• Visit Clarion’s pool safety sign learning center which includes information on shallow water blackout prevention
• Watch Clarion’s 4-minute video, “Drowning Prevention: Shallow Water Blackout,” which includes an interview with Dr. Milner

About Clarion’s Pool Safety Sign System
Clarion pool safety sign systems are available for purchase directly from Clarion’s online pool safety catalog, as well as from leading commercial pool suppliers, including Recreonics, Lincoln Equipment, and Water Safety Products. Signs are offered in English, Spanish, and bilingual English/Spanish. They are customizable in over 30 different languages and in various sizes and finishes to meet location and climate-based considerations. Additional information on pool safety and the importance of effective pool safety signage is available on the Clarion website.

ABOUT CLARION SAFETY SYSTEMS
Clarion Safety Systems, LLC, is the leading designer and manufacturer of visual safety solutions that help customers in more than 180 industries worldwide to make their products and premises safer. Clarion offers a full range of standard and custom products including machinery safety labels, environmental and facility safety signs, pipe and valve identification markings, lockout/tagout products, and safety-grade photoluminescent egress path-marking escape systems. Founded in 1990, the company continues to play a leading role in the development and writing of international and national standards for safety signs, labels, and markings. Clarion is headquartered at 190 Old Milford Road in Milford, PA, 18337, and online at http://www.clarionsafety.com.

ABOUT SHALLOW WATER BLACKOUT PREVENTION
Shallow Water Blackout Prevention (SWBP) is a non-profit organization with a mission to prevent senseless deaths from underwater blackout through awareness and education. Its goals include: banning prolonged breath holding in pools for the general public; educating parents and children on the risks and dangers of underwater breath holding and the dangers of breath holding games; advocating for warning tags on the dangers and risks of underwater breath holding on all freediving, spearfishing, and snorkeling equipment; and encouraging all freedivers and spearfishers to receive safety training. SWBP is located at 5125 Peachtree Industrial Blvd, Norcross, GA, 30092, and online at http://www.shallowwaterblackout.org.

Erin Earley, Clarion Safety Systems, http://www.clarionsafety.com, +1 570-296-5686 Ext: 228, [email protected]