“Off-Season” For Your Swimming Pool? Consider Installing a Safety Barrier

By Kelly Balamuth on January 25, 2012

Winter in Northern California is the “off season” for many swimming pools. While you may not be performing regular daily maintenance on your pool, it’s still not a good idea to forget about it entirely. Installing a safety fence or other barrier is one way to help keep your loved ones and neighbors safe.

Each year, hundreds of young children die and as many as 2,000 are injured by drowning or near-drowning after falling into swimming pools or hot tubs, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Drowning can also be a hazard for older children and even adults. In California, drowning is the number one cause of deaths and injuries that happen in the home to children under age five.

For maximum effectiveness, children should not be able to get over, under, or through a pool barrier. Using a solid material, like bricks or boards, can help prevent children from getting through. Locks on gates are another useful tool. In addition, barriers should be at least level with the ground or partway buried underneath it so that kids cannot crawl or dig underneath. The barrier should be at least 48 inches high on the side facing away from the pool or hot tub, and it should not have any kind of handholds or toeholds that children could use to climb over it.

As many as 70 percent of home pool drowning deaths occur when nobody expected the victim to be near the pool. You can help prevent these by making sure your pool or hot tub is secure.

At Balamuth Harrington, our experienced Northern California personal injury attorneys are dedicated to helping the families of those injured or killed in swimming pool or hot tub accidents. To learn more about how we can help you, call us toll-free today at (888) 254-1234. The call is free and confidential.