Summer Safety Tips To Help You Beat The South Florida Heat
The warm weather is here, which means summer is right around the corner. While this might mean getting out and spending more time at the park, the beach, and other fun summer activities, it also means more people around and more places for your family to be exposed to dangers. There are many ways that the outside environment can be dangerous for your family, and bugs are just one. Insects like mosquitoes, black flies, and ticks can threaten your family and pet. Fortunately, you can use a few practical and straightforward tips to keep your family safe this summer while still enjoying the outdoors. Here are Summer safety tips you need to observe to protect yourself from dangers.
1. Keep an eye on the weather
One of the best ways to keep yourself and your family safe this summer is to stay aware of the weather. While some areas of the country can get quite hot, the vast majority of the country will be relatively calm. While the sun can still be a danger, it’s much more dangerous during thunderstorms, when lightning is a real threat. Lightning is a danger to people and property, but it can also be deadly to pets. Therefore, we recommend keeping an eye on the weather and doing what you can to stay safe if a storm is approaching.
2. Stay hydrated
One crucial way to keep yourself and your family safe this summer is to stay hydrated. While you may be tempted to drink water from a small stream or lake, this can be dangerous. Water sources like these are often contaminated with bacteria and other harmful organisms, so it’s safer to carry your water with you. You are advised to bring at least two liters of water with you and drink at least a cup of water every hour.
3. Don’t leave children or pets in a parked car.
Summer is more than a month away, yet we are already experiencing record-breaking heat in Florida. Temperatures in cars are rising faster and getting warmer than outdoors. It takes just 30 minutes for the inside of a vehicle to heat up by 30 degrees.
A child’s body also overheats three to five times faster than an adult’s. As a result, heatstroke is a very real and preventable problem. Unfortunately, every year, children die from being left in hot cars.
There were 24 children who died from pediatric vehicular heatstroke in the United States in 2020, down from 53 in 2019 and 53 in 2018.
4. Know your bugs
While many people like to spend time outdoors, some bugs can pose a threat. Mosquitoes, ticks, and black flies can carry dangerous diseases that infect humans and pets. These bugs are most active at dusk and dawn, so if you go outside during the day, it is unlikely that you will encounter them. However, if you spend time outdoors at night or in the early morning hours when these bugs are most active, take precautions to protect yourself from bites!
5. Cover up
Another way to keep yourself and your family safe this summer is to cover yourself up. While there are many benefits to spending time outside, it’s also essential to remember that the sun can be dangerous. The sun’s rays can damage skin, causing everything from burns and blisters to cancers. This is why you should stay covered up when spending time outdoors, especially when you’re near the pool.
6. Always wear your seatbelt
If you want to protect yourself and your family, make sure everyone in your car is buckled up every time the vehicle is moving.
Accordant to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seat belts reduce crash-related deaths and severe injuries by about half. Wearing a seat belt is the single most effective way to reduce the risk of death in a crash.
Without a seat belt, passengers in a vehicle can become projectiles during an accident. A not buckled passenger can quickly be ejected through the front, rear, or side windows, resulting in death.
7. Make sure your home is well-ventilated
Ensure your windows and doors are well-ventilated and have a fan or air conditioner running. If your home does not have adequate ventilation, you risk a buildup of carbon dioxide in the house. Increased CO2 is a by-product of respiration and metabolism. When the levels in your home become too high, they can trigger an increase in the activity of specific bugs, increasing the transmission of diseases such as the West Nile virus and the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome.
8. Water safety
To have a safe and fun summer, remember always to stay near the shoreline when swimming or boating. Unfortunately, many people drown each year due to rip currents, which can be very powerful and complex to swim against. If you are visiting a beach with rip currents, ask an employee at the lifeguard station for a safe area for swimming.
9. Lookout for heatstroke
If you are concerned that someone is suffering a heatstroke, look for signs such as skin that is hot and red or blotchy, feeling very tired or dizzy, confusion or loss of consciousness, nausea and vomiting, headache, and muscle cramps. You need to avoid strenuous activities and stay indoors if possible. The heat also requires you to dress lightly for your health and aeration.
Shade your pets to protect them from the sun, even indoors. Pets are more susceptible to the adverse health effects of heat, including the risk of overheating.
10. Car safety
Another critical way to keep yourself and your family safe this summer is to keep yourself family safe while driving. This may sound obvious, but it’s something that many people forget. You are much more likely to make mistakes and accidents if you are distracted when you’re going.
It is safe if you don’t drive when tired or impaired. Avoid distractions while driving, such as texting, eating, drinking, or talking on your cell phone. The best way to avoid accidents is always to be attentive while keeping your eyes on the road at all times.
Be mindful that pet-friendly restaurants and stores may not be safe. If you must leave your children or pets in your car, make sure they are in a booster seat with a pet safety harness. And avoid letting children play in vehicles where they could be struck by a door, accidentally shut windows, or start wildfires.
If you need legal advice in South Florida, contact an experienced personal injury lawyer at the Bodden and Bennett Law Group. We offer free case evaluations and high-quality representation to help you receive justice.
