Safety Tips

Safety Tips

Home Pools are excellent means of recreation for your entire family and friends a large part of the year. These safety tips are meant to keep all your family and friends safe during the swimming season. Swimming pools afe dangerous if not monitored properly.

• Learn to swim or for very small children water survival training is available. If you do not have your child in the water over the winter months, particularly a child under the age of 3 years, he will require a refresher to "remember" what was learned the summer before. Always swim with a buddy; never swim alone.
• Watch our for the dangerous "too's" - too tired, too cold, too much strenuaous activity, too much sun, too far from safety.
• Set water safety rules for the whole family based on swimming abilities (for example, inexperienced swimmers should stay in water less thean chest deep).
• Know which end of the pool is for diving or if the pool has a diving depth at all which is clearly marked and has no obstructions. Use feet first entry when entering the water.
• Do not use alcohol when swimming or soaking in a spa
• Know how to prevent, recognize and respond to emergencies.
• Never use a pool or spa with a missing or broken main drain cover, sub-suction cover, or skimmer cover. All suction areas of the pool or spa should be regularly inspected for entrapment or entanglement hazards.
• The main drain cover should be replaced, if it is of the old type and a newer anti-entrapment cover should be installed.
• Plainly mark the location of the electrical cut-off switch for the pool or spa pump.
• If someone is entrapped against a drain, cut off the pump immediately. Instead of trying to pull the person away from the suction, pry a hand between the drain and the person's body to break the seal.

Use Layers of Protection

The goal, with instituted layers of protection, is to come as close to a "fail safe" system of preventing drowning incidents as possible. Meaning that if there is a momentary lapse of supervision for whatever reason, we have several backup systems in place. Every layer of protection possible must be in force at all times or the system is compromised.

• Supervision. Supervision. Supervision. Use touch supervision with children younger that 5 years old. This means that an adult is within an arm's length of the child at all times.
• Install physical barriers around the pool to limit access. Fences should be at least 4-feet high and installed completely around the pool to limit access. Gates should be self-closing and self-latching. The latch should be out of reach of small children at 54" high.
• If your house forms one side of the barrier for the pool, doors should be kept locked with locking devices above 54". Doors leading from the house to the pool should be protected with alarms that sound when the doors are unexpectedly opened. Or, use a safety cover, which is available in a motor-powered or attached in the deck with anchors that is manually placed over the pool surface when not in use. *Safety covers should not be used in place of the fence between your house and the pool. Even fencing around your pool and using a sefety cover will not prevent all drownings.
• For above-ground pools, steps and ladders to the pool should be secured or removed when the pool is not in use.
• Water survival training for a child when he is capable of crawling or walking to the pool
• CPR and your knowledge of rescue techniques are a final layer of protection, should there ever be an accident

Inground Pools Safety Information

INFORMATION YOU MUST KNOW:

1. Any diving, either head-first or otherwise, can be Dangerous and may result in permanent paralysis or death. If a diver’s head hits the bottom or sides, crippling injury to the neck or spinal cord can result.
2. Diving from either the shallow end wall or the sides of the pools is especially Dangerous, even when employing a “shallow” or “racing” dive.
3. It is your responsibility to:
• Warn users of the hazards of Diving and the Pool.
• Enforce all safety rules.
• Properly maintain the pool and its safety equipment and warnings, and correct any dangerous conditions.

ACTION YOU MUST TAKE:

1. Affix the Danger - No Diving labels to your pool. These labels are intended to clearly indicate to all pool users those areas where diving is unsafe. Failure to apply these labels could result in the permanent paralysis or death of a pool user.
2. Post the enclosed Pool Safety Sign. Select the location where it will be most visible to all pool users before they use the pool. Make sure it is not obscured by shrubbery, by the opening of a gate or door, or by anything else.
3. Read the enclosed National Spa & Pool Institute (NSPI) publication The Sensible Way to Enjoy Your Inground Swimming Pool.
4. Refer to the card accompanying this booklet to determine what NSPI type pool you have:
• If your pool is classified as NON-DIVING (Type 0 or Non-Conforming), it is not considered safe by current NSPI Standards to use ANY diving equipment on it. If your pool is now equipped with any diving equipment, you must IMMEDIATELY remove it. Never permit diving in the pool.
• If you pool is classified as DIVING (Type II, III, IV, or V ), you must:
• Check that the tip of the board overhangs the pool wall the proper distance to provide water deep enough for safe diving in accordance with NSPI Standards. Your pool professional can provide you with this information.
• Check that your diving equipment is not of a higher Type than the Type of your pool (i.e., you can not use Type III diving equipment on a Type II pool).
5. Acquaint ALL pool users - and especially first time visitors - with the bottom contours, slopes, depth, length, width, and possible hazards BEFORE they enter the pool.
6. If you pool is equipped with a slide, the installation must conform to Consumer Product Safety Commission installation standards and include all Consumer Product Safety Commission Intended Use Safety Decals.
7. Establish and enforce common sense rules for pool safety, such as:

• Never swim alone and never allow unsupervised swimming.
• Even if your pool is classified as Diving, never, never permit anyone to run and dive or make long, deep, or fancy dives, as body velocity could carry them too far or too deep, resulting in permanent paralysis or death.
• No horseplay or rough-housing.
• Never swim when using alcohol or drugs - it is no safer than drinking and driving.
• Never use the pool without safe lighting in the pool and deck area.
• Have a high fence with a self-locking gate.
• Have recommended safety equipment at pool site.
• Chlorinate, clean, and maintain your pool regularly to ensure clear water.
• If your children do not know how to swim, enroll them in a Learn to Swim program.
• Be sure visitors to your pool know how to swim, or are adequately supervised.

Safety for Children

The suddenness of this type of accident and the results it yields is devastating to anyone it touches. When you think pool, think hard core. Even if this is not you personality, you must be an absolute dictator. Let your children know without any doubts, that it is your way or no way! Set down definite pool rules covering it's use and more importantly, when not in use. We all have a tendency to give a little leeway on this or that with our children, but not when it comes to the pool. Keep them safe and play by the rules.

1. If a child is missing, always look first in the pool! Seconds Count!
2. Never leave children alone in or near the pool, even for a moment. Maintain constant supervision.
3. Drowning happens quickly and without warning. There is no cry for help.
4. Never use flotation devices as a substitute for supervision.
5. Get water survival training for a child when he is capable of crawling or waling to the pool.
6. Knowing how to swim doesn't make a child drown proof.
7. Keep rescue equipment (Sheperd's Hook with long one part pole) and a phone next to the pool.
8. Everyone who may be supervising small children aroung a swimming pool should learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
9. Remove all toys from the pool after use, so children aren't tempted to reach for them.
10. After the children are through swimming, secure the pool so they can't get back into it.
11. Never leave furniture near the fence that would enable a child to climb over the fence.