How many of us think about pool safety during the Winter months? In the State of Maine, whether it is pool season or not, as a homeowner with a pool, it is up to you to ensure you are practicing pool safety all year round – not just during the summer months.
What may surprise you is that practicing pool safety in the winter doesn’t look all that different from practicing pool safety in the summer. Well, there is one difference: you might become complacent with a pool cover on your pool or there may be much less adult supervision outdoors due to weather conditions. However, even a pool cover alone is not enough (they can tear, rip or get holes etc.). Regardless of the time of year, the most important pool safety tactic every homeowner should take is implementing various layers of protection into your backyard.
What Types of Layers of Protection Should I Use?
Layers of protection include a pool fence, a self-closing, self-latching gate, pool safety covers in the off-season, locks on doors in the house that provide access to the pool or yard and installing a pool alarm. It may also extend to additional child safety locks installed into windows and doors etc. inside your home to prevent children from getting outdoors in the first place. So, if you take nothing else away from this article, please just remember that it’s a number of safety measures working in coordination that create a safe environment, and adult supervision, though critical, is not always enough, because drowning is silent and takes only a few seconds in reality. As busy parents, none of us are immune from that one distracting phone call, or something burning in the stove, or even running to the bathroom etc. It’s almost impossible to rely on supervision alone. This is why we put structural safety measures into place, such as a pool fence, plus many other layers around it. Picture concentric circles of safety radiating out from the central point of your pool. If you can’t sum up and articulate quickly 4-5 layers of pool safety protection, then you may not have one – fortunately, the solutions are relatively simple to implement. There are costs, yes, and we as parents should look at safety as an investment into our children (and guests to our house), not forgone funds.
Safe Solutions of New England Can Help Make Your Maine Home and Backyard Safer
For homeowners in Maine who have a pool in their yard, pool safety and drowning prevention must be a top priority no matter what time of the year it is. This is especially true if you have children living at home.
Listen to the facts. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that drowning is the second leading cause of injury death for children ages 1-14 years. So what should we do?
Install a mesh pool fence in your Maine home. Homeowners in Maine should consider installing a Life Saver Pool Fence to protect children from accidental drownings. Additionally, swimming pools in Maine are subject to the Boca Pool Barrier Code which requires them to have a barrier that is at least 4 feet tall with self-closing and self-latching locks that are beyond the reach of a child in order to prevent them from gaining access to the pool.
Walk your yard. Clear access points. The winter is also the perfect time to take a walk through your yard and look for other potential risks. Are there tables, chairs or storage units situated too close to your pool fence that a child could climb on and access the pool? Are there ladders readily available for a child to move to the fence? Examine your yard from the perspective of a child looking to gain access to the pool and move away or lock up anything that poses a risk.
Add layers of safety (pool covers, pool alarms, door/window alarms and locks etc.). There can never be enough layers of protection when it comes to the safety of your family, which is why is best to implement as many layers as possible and keep them in place throughout every season. Again, other child safety products should be considered too.
Supervision. Put simply, supervision, as we know is a year-round job. It never stops and it never should. We always keep our eyes on children, esp. when they go outdoors near the actual pool. Supervision means undivided attention with no distractions – 100% attention on children and not taking your eyes off of them.
In sum, pool safety is something that needs to be taken seriously throughout the entire year, even after you have closed your pool for the season. With some of the measures above and a mesh pool fence from Life Saver Pool Fence, you can rest assured that it is the best available and will be able to withstand even harsh New England winters. If you need to install new pool fencing, contact us today at (877) 606-7233.
