Will the family members who will have access to your swimming pool this summer be different than who was swimming last summer? Do you have young children or toddlers who weren’t in the household last summer that you now need to keep track of and who you need to keep safe?
When you own a swimming pool, it is a major responsibility because it is your task to keep everyone safe when they are in and around the pool. The responsibility for pool ownership goes beyond keeping everyone safe when they’re swimming and extends to keeping the pool safe when you’re not outside and around it.
The pool should be the “safest room in the house” and it’s up to you to assure that is the case. Curious children and toddlers, pets, wildlife and even the neighbors whom you haven’t invited into the pool can be a safety risk. Swimming pool fences with self-locking gates and those that are unable to be scaled by children are crucial components of your pool.
Layered safety measures are the ideal way to assure the safety of everyone. Let’s face it, in these litigious times you certainly don’t want to be on the end of a lawsuit because someone says you didn’t have the proper safety measures in place.
When you take into consideration that the Center for Disease Control finds “ten people die daily from unintentional drowning.” Even worse, is that two of those ten are children under the age of fourteen. Currently, drowning is the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S. If there are steps you can take to lower those statistics in your own backyard, wouldn’t you? Of course, you would!
Is It Time To Enhance Pool Security?
What safeguards are in place in and around your swimming pool and your backyard to help keep everyone safe?
What type of alarm system does your pool and the pool fence have? Is it loud enough to be heard inside the house?
We aren’t giving personal recommendations to any of these swimming pool alarm and safety devices, but want to give you a jumping off point for when you talk with your pool contractor about additional layers of safety for your pool. Many of these alarms can be purchased online, but we recommend talking with a local swimming pool contractor who can assure the alarm meets safety standards, cannot be easily disabled and is installed properly.
- Pool Protector Inground alarm. This alarm has an indoor monitor that allows you to hear it when it goes off, no matter where you are in the house. This alarm has a range of 200 feet. It is designed specifically to keep pets and children away from the pool.
- Poolguard GAPT-2. The alarm attaches to the pool gate and sounds an alarm if the gate is opened. IT does include an “adult pass through” feature meaning it won’t sound with adults, but will remain armed if children try to breach the barriers.
- Poolguard PGRM-SB Buoy. This alarm floats in the water and sounds when the surface of the water is broken. Set the sensitivity so it doesn’t go off if a leaf falls into the water. This alarm sounds at the source as well as at a remote station.
- Pool Patrol PA. This battery-operated alarm sounds at the source and in a station inside your home. Again, you can adjust the sensitivity of this alarm to only sound when a child or pet falls in, not leaves or other outdoor debris.
- SmartPool PoolEye is designed for above ground pools and sounds at a control panel secured to the above ground pool.
- Techko S187D alarm is a fence or door alarm for an inside door that sounds when doors leading to the pool is opened.
- Blue Wave NA4212. This is cost-effective and detects when anything that weighs more than 15 pounds breaks the surface of the water. It sounds at the source and at a remote receiver.
- A motion-activated camera amps up the safety in and around the pool and acts as an additional layer of safety. A motion-activated security system – much the same as those you’d have to secure your home- is ideal poolside.
Look for a device that has an app for your phone or tablet that you can monitor or get notifications from if the alarm sounds or if the security measures are breached when you’re not at home.
Talk with your pool contractor about the best combination of pool security measures for your swimming pool that will offer the highest level of security.