Last Updated on April 19, 2017
Having a backyard pool is loads of fun and guarantees that your pool will become a mecca each summertime. Follow the below safety tips to ensure a summer free from incidents and dangerous liabilities that can put a damper on the good times.
- Supervise all children whether they are in or just around the perimeter of the pool, even those who can swim. All it takes is a moment of distraction to turn summer fun into tragedy. Don’t allow cell phones or electronic devices to distract you from watching them at all times.
- Teach your kids to swim. Children as young as three can learn basic swimming strokes and lifesaving techniques such as drownproofing.
- Secure your pool with locked gates, sturdy fences that are difficult to scale and surface and underwater alarms that go off when the surface tension of the water is disturbed.
- Don’t store pool toys out beside the pool where they could get tossed or blown in and have a non-swimmer tumble in behind them.
- Enroll in a CPR and Basic First Aid class so you are prepared to begin lifesaving treatment in an emergency until help arrives.
- Make sure your pool is equipped with a lifesaver’s swimmer’s ring or shepherd’s hook to rescue someone in distress, and don’t allow children to play with them.
- Establish some basic pool rules that all who use it follow — no running, dunking or other horseplay in or near the pool, no glass within the fenced pool area and only one person at a time on any diving boards or slides.
- Don’t allow floaties or inflatable pool toys to take the place of basic instruction and supervision, and don’t allow children to develop an over-reliance on these inflatable devices while in the water. All who use the pool should learn basic swimming skills.
- Store all pool chemicals safely according to manufacturer’s directions in a locked area away from children and never in another container that previously held something else.
By using common sense and following these safety rules, you and your family will enjoy many years of backyard fun in your swimming pool.
