General recommendations.

What safety measures should be followed when swimming? It is better to swim in the morning or in the evening, when there is no danger of overheating.

The water temperature should be at least 17-19 degrees Celsius. You can swim for no more than 20 minutes, and this time is increased gradually, starting from 3-5 minutes. You can not bring yourself to chills. With hypothermia, convulsions may occur, respiratory arrest, loss of consciousness may occur. After prolonged exposure to the sun, it is necessary to step back into the shade, cool down and only then enter the water, since with sudden cooling, reflex muscle contraction and respiratory arrest may occur. If there is no equipped beach nearby, you need to choose a safe place for swimming with a hard sandy, not clogged bottom, a gradual slope. Never jump in places not specially equipped: you can hit your head on a stone or other object. Do not swim far, as you may not be able to calculate your strength. Feeling tired, do not get lost and do not strive to swim to the shore faster. You should "rest" on the water, turning over on your back and supporting yourself on the surface with light movements of your arms and legs. If it is captured by the current, do not try to fight it. Swim downstream, gradually, at a slight angle, approaching the shore. If you are caught in a whirlpool, draw more air into your lungs, immerse yourself in the water and, making a strong jerk to the side, float up. In bodies of water with a lot of algae, try to swim close to the surface of the water without touching plants or making sudden movements. If your arms or legs are entangled in the stems, stop by taking the "float" position and free yourself from them. Do not swim on air mattresses, car cameras and inflatable toys. The wind or current can carry them far from the coast, and the wave can overwhelm. If air comes out of them, they will lose their buoyancy.

Rescue of a drowning man

 This is not a simple matter. Sometimes only professional rescuers can do it. The sequence of actions of the rescuers is as follows: enter the water, swim up to the drowning person, find the victim under water, if necessary, free himself from the capture, transport him to the shore, provide first aid When rescuing a drowning man, your goal is to pull the victim ashore with the least danger to you. Choose the safest way: if possible, stay on the shore and try to reach the drowning man with your hand, stick, branch, or throw him a rope. Be careful to maintain your balance, as a drowning person can pull you into the water. Do not enter the water until you are convinced that it is absolutely necessary. Swim and rescue a drowning person only if you are a lifeguard or an unconscious drowning person. When carrying a drowning person out of the water, hold him so that his head hangs below the chest. Emergency ashore: First aid sequence depends on the type of drowning. There are two types: blue and pale. Blue type. A drowning person does not immediately submerge himself in the water, but tries to stay on its surface. When inhaling, he swallows a large amount of water, which fills the stomach and enters the lungs. A sharp oxygen starvation develops, which causes a bluish skin color. Pale type. The drowned man does not try to fight for his life and quickly goes to the bottom. This is often seen during overturning of kayaks or rafts, when a person is immersed in the water in a state of panic. Contact with cold water can cause sudden respiratory and cardiac arrest. At the same time, water does not enter the lungs. With blue type of drowning, the first step is to quickly remove water from the respiratory tract. To do this, standing on one knee, lay the victim on their bent knee so that the lower part of the chest rests on it, and the upper body and head hang down. Then, with one hand, open the victim's mouth, and with the other, pat him on the back or gently press on the ribs from the back. When the flow of water has stopped, turn the victim onto his back and lay on a hard surface. Use a bandage or handkerchief to quickly clean the sand from his mouth. Perform resuscitation measures, artificial respiration, closed heart massage – until spontaneous breathing appears and cardiac activity is restored. With a pale type of drowning on the shore, they immediately begin resuscitation. To prevent hypothermia: remove wet clothes, cover the victim with warm clothes, give hot water. The patient should be hospitalized, even if he feels better.

On thin ice

Information for thought. More than 10 thousand people drown in water bodies of Russia every year. And not only in the summer heat during swimming, but also in winter or early spring, falling through the ice. Cars and pedestrians walk along the "bridges" built on reservoirs by frost, shortening paths, fishermen cut holes, sometimes of a rather large diameter. During the night, such a hole, covered with thin ice, covered with snow, becomes an invisible trap for an unwary person. Gullies are often formed on fast-flowing rivers and in places where spring water gushes or streams flow. On large areas, the ice is washed away by warm waters discharged into reservoirs by industrial enterprises. Ice is weak in places where branches, reeds, boards or other objects are frozen into it. Children often arrange slides near steep shores and lakes. Rolling down on a sled or ski, when driving fast, it is difficult to brake or turn off, even noticing a danger ahead – an ice hole or a breach. Many tomboys run on skates or sleds on ice that cracks and sags. They consider this a manifestation of heroism, not realizing the terrible danger of such fun. It is not for nothing that people often compare actions associated with risk with walking on thin ice. To avoid accidents, you must follow the basic rules of ice behavior. Take a close look in front of you before stepping on the ice. Hazardous areas on ice tend to be darker than others. Muddy ice is fragile, spongy, slightly transparent and whitish. Descent onto the ice is considered one of the most dangerous places – there are often cracks in the zone of its "abutment" to the land. Particular care is needed after snowfalls, when cracks, holes, ice holes are not visible under a layer of snow. The safest way is to cross clear ice, which has a greenish or bluish tint, to follow the beaten track. It is better to cross in a group, keeping a distance of 5-6 meters from each other. The strength of the ice is checked with an ice stick or a thick stick, striking it (2-3 times in the same place) as far as possible in front of you. You should not test the strength of the ice with kicks, so it is no wonder to fail. Before going on the ice, skiers are advised to remove the pole loops from the hands and the strap of the backpack from one shoulder, and also to unfasten the ski mounts. These preparations will provide freedom of movement in the event of an unexpected dip under the ice. It is dangerous for fishermen to punch many holes in a limited area, to gather in large groups on weak ice, especially when it is covered with snow and during a thaw. It is imperative to have a board at the hole that increases the support area.

What if you fell into the water?

The main thing is not to panic! Try to spread your arms wide at once so as not to dive headlong into the water. Keep your composure. Do not shout if there is no one nearby – you will only waste your energy. It is better to try, without breaking the edge or making sudden movements, to get out onto hard ice. It is important to "throw" legs on its edge, transfer the weight of the body to a wide area of ​​support and then, without lifting, crawl or roll away from the dangerous place. The water splashing out of the breach quickly makes the ice slippery and makes it difficult for the hands. It is necessary to take it as a rule: take a couple of large nails with you for winter fishing. With the help of them, it is easier to pull up. If trouble happened near the coast, then you should swim out to land. If, in front of your eyes, a person fell through the ice – immediately shout to him that you are going to help. This will calm him down and give him strength. You can approach the hole only by crawling, otherwise you will both find yourself in the water. It is better to put some kind of wooden object under yourself – a board, skis, sticks – to increase the support area. Throw ropes, tied belts, scarves, as well as sledges, skis or long objects to a drowning person 3-4 meters from the hole. Crawling to the edge of it is unacceptable. If there are several people nearby, it is recommended to lie on the ice in a chain and, holding each other's legs, move towards the break! People cannot stay in icy water for a long time, therefore the life and health of the victim depend on ingenuity and speed of action. Truly true: whoever helped soon, he helped twice. The best way to keep a person warm is to take off their wet clothes, undress themselves and lie down next to them in a sleeping bag. Give a hot drink. In the absence of a sleeping bag, the clothes must be wrung out and put back on the rescued person. It is good if there is plastic wrap. It can wrap a person, the so-called greenhouse effect is obtained. And try to quickly get to a warm room. Remember: going to a body of water alone is dangerous! You definitely need to be in a company or at least two people and be sure, apart from two large nails (which has already been mentioned), take with you a skein of strong (nylon) cord 10-15 m long with large loops at the ends. The end of the cord is thrown into the ice break.

In an icy font

 Analysis of emergencies and disasters on the water shows that 50-70% of the victims fall into violent hysteria or prostration. Only 15-25% of them can act without panic, reasonably and decisively. Most of the victims die after rescue due to profound hypothermia (a sharp drop in body temperature caused by hypothermia due to untimely medical care). The development of general freezing of the body contributes to fatigue, starvation, alcohol intoxication. Rescuers need to keep in mind that the female body is more adapted to stay in ice water for a long time. In men in such a situation, after 4-5 minutes, there is a sharp pain in the genitals, which can cause heart paralysis. Therefore, there is, at first glance, a "non-gentlemanly" recommendation: first of all, take men out of the ice font, since for them extra seconds of stay in cold water can be fatal. After 5-15 minutes of being in ice water, a sudden cold shock may occur. What should a person in trouble do? First of all, we must try to overcome the feeling of hopelessness of our situation (by the way, as in any other emergency situation). It is important to maintain a state of relative calm to reduce heat loss. It is believed that at a water temperature of +10 degrees in wet clothes, a person who knows how to swim is able to swim 1500 m. It is not recommended to roll over on his back or try to stay in a horizontal position. Experts advise to press the arms of the legs to the body ("embryo posture") – thanks to this, a person can hold out in 10-degree water for about 4 hours. It is not recommended to discard excess clothing if it does not create negative buoyancy. Even completely wet clothing protects against excessive cooling. After removing the victim from the water, it is necessary to use heating means as soon as possible. The most acceptable are heaters that give a heat flow of air with a temperature of +40 to +45 degrees and increase the room temperature to +30 degrees and above. Under such conditions, heat transfer from the surface of the cooled body is hindered. To maintain the energy potential of the victim, it is best to use glucose as food for the first time, since any other food is not absorbed efficiently and does not replenish the body's energy resources. And in conclusion, two facts from the Guinness Book of Records. In November 1974, in Galveston, Texas, USA, a memorial plaque was unveiled to the deaf-and-dumb rescuer Leroy Columbo (1905-1974), who from 1917 until the end of his life saved 907 people from death on the waters near Galveston Island. In 1986, 2-year-old Michelle Funk from Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, recovered completely after a 66-minute stay underwater. While playing near her house, the baby fell into a stream. When rescuers found her, the girl's heart was no longer beating. The doctors who saved Michelle described her stay under water as "the longest, documented, not leading to irreversible neurological consequences." So in any emergency, hope of salvation must not be lost.

(Based on materials of В. Жаворонков. Методическое пособие. Азбука безопасности в чрезвычайных ситуациях)