Drowning is the number one cause of death for children under 5 years old in the states of Florida, Arizona and California and the second most common cause of death for children in more than a dozen other states. For every drowning, there are 11 near-drownings, many of which result in permanent brain damage. Pool safety experts list six layers of protection every household with a backyard pool should employ. Pool fencing and locked, alarmed gates are two of those layers. Does this Spark an idea?
Purpose
The first layer of protection for young children around pools is supervision, but 69 percent of child drownings occur when caretaker (parent, sitter, sibling) supervision fails for one reason or another. That's where pool fencing and locked gates come in. These measures, employed properly, provide a physical barrier to keep young children away from swimming pools.
Pool Fencing Regulations
Not just any fence will serve as pool fencing. Usually pool fencing must be made of masonry, concrete, decorative wrought iron or in some instances vinyl mesh with aluminum poles. Different communities may have slightly different regulations. in Chandler, Arizona, for example, the pool fence must be a minimum of 6 feet high and a maximum of 7 feet high. The pool fencing must not be located in such a way that you would need to go through it for any purpose other than to access the pool, nor may it have any handholds or footholds that would make it possible for a child to climb over the fence. The fencing must be configured and installed so a small child cannot climb under it.
Gates
Self-latching, self-locking gates and/or entrances through the pool fencing are mandatory. This means the gate must swing shut and lock on its own (though you should always check to make sure it has closed and locked). The latch must be a minimum of 54 inches from the ground so young children cannot reach it. Neither the fencing nor the gates may have doggy doors or any other opening than a small child could get through. Ideally, gates should have alarms that can be set to go off when no one is expected to be around the pool. Pools can also be equipped with surface and subsurface alarms that sound when the water is disturbed. Children can also wear alarms that will go off if they get wet.
Other Levels of Protection
In addition to supervision, pool fencing and self-latching, self-locking gates and alarms, a child who lives in or visits a home with a pool should have been given survival training as soon as she can crawl, and all adults who supervise children in the home should know rescue techniques and CPR.
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