Water Safety: Install a Pool Fence

At Child Safety Store, we try to look at every angle of a child’s life to determine how they can be as safe as possible. With summer is full force, it’s important to recognize that many homes throughout the country have swimming pools.  This is a vital aspect of safety that should be addressed in order to truly keep our kids safe.

Installing a pool fence is an important decision that can help to ensure safety for the entire family – pets included!  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is the leading cause of deaths among children aged one through four. Pool fences can prevent a tragedy like this from happening.

Preventing Children From Entering the Pool Area with a Pool Fence

We discussed a scary statistic in a recent blog post about pool safety. The last place 46 percent of drowned children were seen was inside their house. This means that they made their way out of the living quarters and into the water.  This can happen quite innocently, but it takes only moments for a child to drown.  The number-one safeguard for preventing children from entering the pool area is to install a pool fence.

While active supervision is essential to a child’s safety, it shouldn’t be the only thing preventing children from entering the water.  Other safety precautions are absolutely necessary. A fence will isolate the pool area from other areas of the house and backyard. This way, extra effort is needed to get to the water.

Install the Right Gate

Be sure that your pool fence has a proper gate. Accidents happen. It is quite easy to walk through the gate without closing it behind you. However, there’s no sense in having a pool fence to begin with if a child can walk right through an open gate.  Make sure your gate is self-closing and self-latching. This means that even if you forget to close the gate, it will close automatically behind you. Not only that, but it will also lock automatically.

Pool Fence Height Matters

Children can get creative when they are curious. When there is something they want, they will go through any means necessary to get to it.  For this reason, it is best for your pool fence to be at least 48 inches tall to prevent a child from climbing it.  Slats along the width of the fence should be no more than four inches apart so that kids can’t slip through it either.

Add Other Layers of Protection

Drownings are common, but they are preventable. Adding some extra layers of protection can increase your chances of avoiding a tragic incident. 

Alarms and locks should be placed on any doors or windows in your home that access the pool.  An alarm can also be placed inside the pool. This would alert you if anyone has entered the water.

Don’t leave toys in the pool.  They only serve as incentive for children to enter the water.  If they reach for the toy, they could fall in and find themselves in trouble.

Get trained. Swimming lessons will equip children to survive if they end up in the water without supervision. It is best to make sure everyone in the house knows how to swim. In addition, CPR can truly be a life-saver. Any caregivers or babysitters should be certified in CPR as well.