Swimming Pool Safety

The following barrier recommendations are the result of identifying key parameters that typically contribute to child drowning in backyard pools. These recommendations are the minimum steps you can take to make your home a safe place for your child.

Barriers

Barriers are not childproof, but they provide layers of protection for a child who strays from supervision. Barriers give parents additional time to locate a child before the unexpected becomes a reality.

Barriers include a fence or wall, door alarms for the house, and a power safety cover over the pool. Barriers also may be used to protect children from accessing hot tubs and spas. Use the following recommendations as a guide:

Fences and Gates

• Install a fence or other barrier, such as a wall, completely around the pool. If the house is part of the barrier, the doors leading from the house to the pool should be protected with an alarm or the pool should have a power safety cover.
• The fence or other barrier should be at least 4 feet high. It should have no foot- or handholds that could help a young child to climb it.
• Vertical fence slats should be less than 4 inches apart to prevent a child from squeezing through.
• If the fence is chain link, then no part of the diamond-shaped opening should be larger than 1-3/4 inches.
• Fence gates should be selfclosing and self-latching. The gate should be well maintained to close and latch easily. The latch should be out of a child’s reach.

Alarms

• If the house forms one side of the barrier, then doors leading from the house to the pool should be protected with alarms that produce an audible sound when a door is unexpectedly opened.
• Install an alarm that can be temporarily turned off by an adult for a single opening of the door by using a keypad or switch that is out of a child’s reach.

Battery and electrically powered alarms are available. The keypad switch can be used by adults who wish to pass through the door without setting off the alarm. It should be placed high on all doors leading from the house to the pool. Affordable and easily installed alarms are available. An alarm signal immediately tells a parent that a door has been opened.

Power Safety Covers

Power safety covers over the pool may be used as an alternative to door alarms. A power safety cover should meet the requirements of the ASTM pool cover standard that addresses labeling requirements and performance.

ASTM requires that a cover withstand the weight of two adults and a child to allow a rescue should an individual fall onto the cover. The standard also requires quick removal of water from the cover. A young child can drown in just inches of water.

A power safety cover is a motor powered barrier that can be placed over the water area. Motor-driven covers easily open and close over the pool. When the power safety cover is properly in place over the pool, it provides a high level of safety for children under 5 years old by inhibiting their access to the water.

Above-Ground Pools

Steps and ladders leading from the ground to the pool should be secured and locked, or removed when the pool is not in use.