Extensive research has determined that most misfortunes occurring in the swimming pool area involve kids aged 1 to 3 years. 77% of the catastrophes occurred when children went missing for about 5 minutes and most of these accidents, about 65% occurred in residential swimming pools. So, in case you are planning to construct or buy a house with a swimming pool, always remember to install a pool barrier at the earliest to ensure the security of your child’s life. While guidelines, bylaws and norms vary depending on where you live, there are certain common pool fencing guidelines that are generally accepted regardless of location:
- The pool fence should have a minimum height of four feet so that small children kids cannot climb over the fence.
- The fence should not provide any hand or foot holds that can facilitate climbing.
- The fence should be installed away from walls, trees or other objects or structures which might act as a support for children to climb over.
- Protrusions and unnecessary indentations must be avoided in the pool barriers.
- The distance between horizontal planks should be less than 45 inches and preferably one should opt for vertical columns mainly.
- Any opening or hole in and around the swimming pool area should not be more than 4 inches.
- The swimming pool area should have self-locking gates which can be opened only by the adults and not by kids.
- A swimming pool fence is only a deterrent and should never replace adult supervision and guidance.
- For above-ground swimming pools, pool barriers must be installed and removable stairs or self-locking gates must be installed to prevent children from accessing the pool area.