Swiss company Deep Blue AG has developed a solution called BlueFox to help prevent swimmers and non-swimmers from drowning and near-drowning.BlueFox is an active safety system that permanently monitors the depth of swimmers wearing the BlueFox Monitoring Bracelet.

The bracelet sends signals to a sensor mounted on the pool wall as soon the swimmer exceeds programmed depth and time parameters.

The company has been researching underwater ultrasonic communication for a number of years, and the product is a response to figures from the International Life Saving Federation (ILSF) indicating that more than 250,000 men, women and children around the world drown every year. According to Deep Blue, most drowning victims are not non-swimmers, with the majority actually being trained swimmers.

The company offers the BlueFox safety system for residential pools and swimming ponds, but also as a portable unit for schools and swimming clubs, as well as entire installations for public pools, aquaparks and hotel pools.