Key Pool Safety Tips

Swimming is a great way to cool off during hot Tucson summers. However, it’s important to ensure any kids enjoying your pool stay safe. Drowning is the leading cause of injury-related death for children aged 1-4. By following some simple tips for pool safety, you can help protect the kids in your care.

1. Know CPR

Knowing how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on adults and children ensures you are prepared for the worst-case scenario. You will hopefully never need to use your CPR skills, but it is best to make sure you are ready if you need to.

2. Make Sure Your Children Learn to Swim

It’s important for children to learn basic swimming skills for their safety. Taking swimming lessons reduces the risk of drowning for children 1-4 by 88%.

3. Always Supervise Children In or Near The Pool

Never allow children to use the pool unattended. Designate one adult to watch kids while they swim. This adult should not be doing anything else and should be fully focused on watching the children in the pool. Alternating this responsibility between multiple adults can make it easier to ensure the designated “watcher” stays focused at all times.

4. Install a Pool Fence or Cover

In order to keep children out of your pool when you are not supervising them, install a fence, cover, or another method to prevent access. An alarm can alert you if there is any attempt to get into the pool area without supervision.

If you only have children at your home some of the time, such as grandkids, there are removable fences and covers on the market. That way, you can put the barrier away when you don’t need it.

5. Ensure Your Pool Has Compliant Drain Covers

Suction from pool or spa drains can trap children underwater. To prevent this, make sure your pool and spa have compliant covers and teach children to stay away from any drains.

Why It’s Important To Stay Alert

Many people believe drowning is loud and obvious as it is happening, but this is not the case. Often, an individual who is drowning will not make any noise and they won’t make a big splash or be able to give other visual cues to catch someone’s attention. Additionally, drowning can happen quickly, in as little as 20 – 60 seconds.

This is why it’s important to always be alert when there are children swimming. Your pool can be a great place for your whole family to cool down and spend time together, so long as you remember to exercise caution. The steps above are simple but can be lifesaving.

We Build Pools With Your Family in Mind

At Pools By Design, we will discuss the swimming skills and ages of all members of your family and will keep this in mind when designing and building your pool.

To discuss your new pool, contact us today.