Got a swimming pool? Make sure it's safe

Swimming enclosures and pool safety

Swimming pool enclosures can play an effective role in providing safety and security for your swimming pool. Owning your own swimming pool is great, but does require you to take on some level of responsibility towards safety.

In many countries, including the UK, the responsibility for safety and security of your pool is yours alone, so you need to know how you can be prepared, and prevent any accidents. And whilst there are not the legal regulations in the UK forcing pool owners to take precautions, it's clear that you should make sure your pool is safe, not only for your family, but also for friends and guests, particularly if your house is rented out.

However, in France this situation is very different, by law you must provide an effective safety barrier for your pool, or face a hefty fine. The options for doing this range from installing a pool alarm, through to fencing your pool off, and also by installing a lockable swimming pool enclosure. And whilst the enclosure is the most expensive option, it does also provide many other valuable benefits.

The facts about pool safety

There's very little in the way of recently published data on swimming pool safety. However here's a quick snapshot of some of the key findings from a piece of research carried out in the USA.

Every year in the US, more than three hundred children under five years old, drown in residential swimming pools, usually owned by their family. And, in addition to this, more than two thousand children in that same age group are treated for submersion injures.

Another peice of research provided the following statistics; Seventy five percent of submersion victims were between one and three years old. And of the group, sixty five percent were boys. Also within the group it was identified that toddlers, in particular, were a high risk group, as they can often do something unexpected as their abilities change daily.

A rather surprising addition to this was that sixty five percent of the children were not even expected to be at or in the swimming pool, and yet they were still found there.

Of all the accidents, sixty five percent happened in a swimming pool which was owned by the child's family, and thirty five percent happened in a pool owned by friends or relatives.

The thing about pool submersions involving children, is that they happen quickly. It's possible that a child can drown in the time it takes to make a quick phone call. Indeed seventy five percent of accident victims had been out of sight for a mere five minutes or less.

Swimming pool enclosures and alarms Secure your pool

Your swimming pool should always be secure, whenever it is not in use. At a minimum level you should install a pool alarm. These simple devices work in a number of ways, but probably the most common is the pressure sensor type. A good one of these will probably cost you around two hundred pounds - they are easy to install on your pool edge, and subsequently require little maintenance, and probably a battery change once a year. This can be even less frequent if you go for a solar powered one.

As an alternative, and particularly smaller children and those just starting to walk, you should consider the personal wristband type alarm. These, simple wireless devices, easily attach securely round the wrist of your child (or pet's collar). Then if the wristband is submerged in water, a 100Db alarm immediately goes off at the base station. The base station for these alarms work off a rechargeable battery, and therefore they are totally portable, and consequently great for taking on holiday, or to friends houses, or on a river boat, canal boat or by a lake.

The next level of safety you could consider is a barrier of some sort. There are three possible options for this. A fixed pool cover or winter cover, a fenced pool surround, or finally a swimming pool enclosure.

Of the three options above, the swimming pool enclosure is probably the most expensive. However if you consider all the other benefits a pool enclosure has, then it seems the enclosure would come out on top. It will help heat the water in your pool, keep out debris, reduce chemical usage and evaporation, and if you heat your pool, it means you can use your swimming pool all year round. And keep it safe and secure.

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