Having a home swimming pool can be a dream for many people, but there are inherent safety risks with having a water feature on your property that you need to recognise. The last thing you want is someone injuring themselves or falling accidentally in the pool and putting them in danger. Here are six tips to help ensure both children and adults are safe around the pool at all times.
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Create a list of rules
It is important to have a list of rules that are visible at all times. Create a sign with all of the pool rules clearly written on it. This reminds everyone who enters the pool to treat it with respect and to stay safe at all times. The rules that you choose are up to you, but some of the most important ones could include:
- Walk, don’t run – it is so easy to slip around a pool, especially with a slippery surface that’s covered in water. Ensure that this rule is instilled straight away – there will be no running around the pool
- No glass by the pool – depending on your perspective you might want to have no food and drink around the pool at all, but at the very least you need to make sure that no-one has glass around the pool. Even if adults would like to have glasses, it sets a better example to children to ensure they don’t bring glass to the pool area
- No diving – home pools are typically not deep enough for safe diving – and even if they are deep enough for gentle dives there will always be someone who doesn’t follow common sense. Diving into the shallow end of a pool can cause serious injuries
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Surround your pool with a fence
It’s important to remember that the pool area should be secured. Every home pool should be set up with a fence that entirely surrounds it. This stops wandering children from getting lost and slipping into the pool. Make sure that the fence is high enough to keep out anyone who isn’t old enough to be in the pool area by themselves. The fence needs to be climb resistant and have a gate with a self-closing latch.
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Keep it clean
Another issue surrounding your home pool is the cleanliness. You need to invest in the right balance of chemicals to ensure the pool is clean and healthy at all times. Too many chemicals can leave you with stinging eyes or even rashes on the skin. But too few can allow bacteria to thrive in the water which can be even worse.
This problem is exacerbated by standard concrete pools. Part of the problem with concrete pools is the opportunity for osmosis through the lining of the pool. This can allow bacteria from the soil that surrounds the pool to transfer into the water. This could be avoided entirely by using ceramic pool builders as ceramic pools are impermeable.
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Get a safety cover
A safety cover is another vital safety feature that you need to invest in. Accidents to happen, and even with a fence that surrounds the pool, gates can be left open at the least convenient moments. A pool cover ensures that any child falling into the pool will be kept out of the water. Remember that a pool cover should reach across the entirely length of the pool with no gaps. And also be aware that solar covers do not count as safety covers and can actually be dangerous.
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Supervise children at all times
It might seem like something obvious, but children in the pool should be supervised at all times. This is especially true if you have several children using the pool at once. In this scenario it may be very difficult to hear any cries for help with lots of other excited voices shouting and playing. When children are in the pool, make sure that they are under constant supervision from an adult.
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Don’t drink and swim
This is a safety rule that adults need to follow – you shouldn’t get drunk and swim in your pool. Drinking can make you do foolish things – read back to diving in at the shallow end – and make mistakes that you wouldn’t usually make.
