Safety is the Best Policy
14th February 2009 by Swimming Pools No CommentsSafety is the Best Policy
According to swimmingpoollaws.net, the bad news about owning your own pool at home is that most drowning incidents and submersion injuries happen in residential pools. The good news is that these accidents can be prevented by following swimming pool laws including the parental supervision and the usage of safety equipments especially designed for small children. Swimmingpoollaws.net has advised parents that own pools in their homes to always consider using barriers such as fences, gates, door alarms and power safety covers.
One important detail to remember about barriers is that they do not completely rid off children from swimming pools; other swimming pool laws and protocols must still be exercised. However, barriers do provide an additional obstacle for kids, thereby giving their caregivers more time for rescue before the tragedy happens.
A fence or wall can be installed to completely surround the swimming pool. Walls should be kept to a minimum height of 4 ft., it must also have no footholds or handles that could facilitate climbing. The vertical slats of the fence should not be greater than 4 in. so that a toddler would not be able to squeeze through.
Additionally, the doors leading from the house to the pool should be protected with alarms loud enough to be heard. These battery-powered or electrical alarms should also be temporarily turned off using a switch out of a child’s reach so that the guardian or parent can have full control over the alarms.
Swimmingpoollaws.net also said that another alternative are power safety covers—motor powered barriers placed over the water area to open and close over the pool. A power safety cover should be able to meet the simple requirements based on the pool cover standards of ASTM, which coincide with swimming pool laws, requiring the cover to bear the weight of adults counting to at least two plus a child to allow rescue. Since a young kid can easily drown within just a few inches of height of water, ASTM also requires that the water in the cover can be quickly removed.
