Pool Safety: An Important Topic for Everyone Who Owns or Swims in a Pool or Allows their Children to Swim in a Pool
 According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 85% of the children who drown each year do so at their own or a friends' pool. The majority of these drownings can be attributed to momentary lapses in parental supervision combined with the lack of proper pool safety barriers.
Many communities have enacted safety regulations governing residential swimming pools, but it is up to parents to comply with these regulations. Apart from these laws, parents who own pools can take their own precautions to reduce the chances of their youngsters accessing the family pool or spa without adult supervision.
 Foremost in protecting against drowning, all experts suggest erecting barriers to provide layers of protection for a child who strays from supervision. Barriers include a fence or wall, door alarms for the house, and a power safety cover over the pool. According to the Injury Free Coalition for Kids, you should install child proof fencing around swimming pools. A successful pool barrier prevents a child from getting OVER, UNDER, or THROUGH and keeps the child from gaining access to the pool except when supervising adults are present.
You must be aware of the potentially hazardous properties of a pool. Just how serious is the problem? Drowning is the number one cause of death for children under five in Florida, Arizona, and California with a ranking of number two for the nation. For every drowning there are eleven near drowning incidents, according to government statistics; many of which result in totally disabling brain damage.
The majority of the parents involved were responsible people who thought it could never happen to their family. They were careful and had close supervision over their children. So we are literally talking about people who could live next door to you.
Supervision Can and Does Fail
A study conducted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to find out how child - drowning incidents occur indicates that supervision can and does fail. The investigation by the Commission was directed at children under age five in Arizona, California, and Florida who had drown in home swimming pools. The results might help you to better understand why drowning is still the number one killer for three states and stands at number two for the nation:
Who was in charge of supervision at the time of drowning?
69 percent of the accidents occurred while one or both parents were responsible for supervision. 10 percent were adults other than the parents. 14 percent were sitters. 7 percent were siblings.
What was the location of the pool drowning?
65 percent were in a pool owned by the child's family. 22 percent were at a relatives' pool. 11 percent happened at a neighbor's pool.
Layers of Protection
 Supervision is always your primary layer of protection, but as the study shows, 69 percent of the drowning incidents occurred when parental supervision failed and there were not other "backup layers" in use.
Access doors to the pool area with high locks are a secondary layer of protection.
Alarms on access doors is another layer of protection.
A pool safety barrier (fence) separating the pool from your home and all access doors and entrances is one more layer of protection.
Water survival training for a child when he is capable of crawling or walking to the pool.
CPR and your knowledge of rescue techniques are a final layer of protection should there be an accident.
The goal, with instituted layers of protection, is to come as close to a "fail safe" system of preventing drowning incidents as possible. Meaning that if there is a momentary lapse of supervision for whatever reason, we have several backup systems in place. All must fail before a drowning can take place. A door has been left unlocked or open, the alarm system or device for the door has been turned off, the pool safety barrier has been left open, your child does enter the water, panics and does not attempt to utilize survival swim training, CPR is administered too late to save the child.
Source: homeowners.masterhalco.com |
The
Consumer Product Safety Commission suggests installing a 
- Gates should open out from the pool and should be self- closing and self-latching. The gate should have no opening greater than ½ inch within 18 inches of the latch release mechanism. This prevents a young child from reaching through the gate and releasing the latch.
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