How safe is your home for your kids? While most parents don’t knowingly create an unsafe home for their kids, there are aspects of your property and your lifestyle that can cause harm to your kids and can create the perfect environment for accidents to happen. Every year, over 2,000 children under 15 lose their lives due to unintentional accidents in the home, and over 3.4 million more children are harmed due to accidents that cause injury.
While you cannot eradicate all hazards from your home, the pool is one of the major causes of injury and death.
Suppose you’re lucky enough to have a pool at your home. In that case, you need to make sure that your pool is safe at all times and that your children don’t become one of the growing numbers of children who lose their lives due to drowning in the home pool each year, especially now as the warm weather is approaching. With more and more people spending time outside in the good weather, being in the pool is an enticing idea for everyone not just kids.
Install A Fence
Installing a pool fence is one of the best ways to keep your kids out of the pool unsupervised. Keep Your Kids Safe with Pool Safety Fences by ensuring your pool fence meets all guidelines, which include;
- Being over 4 ft in height
- Not having any gaps wider than 4 inches
- It must have 4 sides
- Be unclimable
- Be self-closing and self-latching
- Be no more than 4 inches off the ground if the ground is solid and 2 inches if it’s not solid, i.e., grass.
Following these guidelines and working with expert pool fence suppliers can help you ensure that your fence is doing what you need and is instrumental in helping you create a barrier between your kids and the pool to deter unauthorized use.
Cover the Pool
Using a pool cover in addition to a fence, not instead of a fence, can drastically reduce the incidences of kids gaining access to your pool when they shouldn’t be in it. While it might seem like a task to keep covering and uncovering it, this small action can be an added layer of prediction for the whole household.
It is best to opt for a motorized pool cover and keep the control unit secured so children can’t access it to open it themselves. Check your cover regularly for any signs of damage to ensure that it’s fit for purpose and provides the protection you need.
Have A Pool Alarm
Pool alarms can come in many different ways and can be helpful in alerting you when someone is in the pool. A pool company can help you install an alarm that detects movement in the water and sounds an alarm to let you know someone is using the pool. You can install alarms on defenses and restrict access to the pool so that if someone opens them, the alarm is pounded. You can even have a wristband for your child that sounds like an alarm if it gets wet. Alternatively, you can set your house’s perimeter alarm so that if external doors are opened, the alarm sounds so you can grab your child if they’re heading for the pool area.
Supervise the Area
Of course, nothing replaces being physically there to supervise your child around the pool, but all parents know that keeping tabs on your kids 24/7 isn’t possible. If your child escapes your supervision, whether indoors or even around the pool, having a camera installed to monitor for pool usage can alert you along with alarms so you know that is where your child is or is heading so you can stop them. The more you can track their movements if they’re not physically in your presence, the easier it will be to get to them if needed.
Secure Exits
The most common way for children to gain access to a pool is because people have been careless in leaving doors open. Be it external doors in the home or the doors on a pool fence, open gates, and easy access make the pool more enticing. And as children don’t see the danger or see any harm in going for a dip in the pool, it doesn’t mean it’s safe for them to do so. Be vigilant, but keep all access points to the point closed and even locked if need be to reduce your child’s ability to sneak out unaware and enter the pool area.
Teach Them Pool Safety
As a minimum, if you have a pool at home, your children need to be able to swim. But as they’re old enough, teaching them the dangers of water and how to stay safe when in the pool can be extremely helpful in those instances where they experience water difficulties because children can drown in pools with people watching. Drownings don’t always happen with big dramatic displays; the slow slipping under the water often goes unnoticed. Teach your child how to ask for help if they can, how to preserve their energy, and how to keep their head above water so they have the survival skills necessary for any type of water incident, not just finding themselves alone in a home pool in difficulty.
Have Aids
Having aids or supports in the pool that your child can use if they struggle in the water can be helpful. It might be a rope they can grab onto to pull themselves in the pool or keep poles, life rings, or supports to hold onto around the edge of the pool so that children can hold on to something to help them get out or stay above water if required. The easier it is for them to help themselves, the more likely they will be able to avoid difficulties should they experience these situations.
Keeping your children safe if you have any type of pool in your home is paramount. Whether it’s an inground or above-ground pool, pool safety is the priority when kids are around water, and doing everything you can to avoid accidental drownings or water emergencies should be something you actively work towards.
