Pool Safety: Important tips on how to protect your family and friends

Happy Thursday!  You wouldn’t have known it by the weather this week, but Memorial Day is right around the corner.  So in light of the upcoming “Pool Opening” holiday, I wanted to talk about a very serious and important subject – Pool Safety!!  

Important safety tips to help protect your family and friends:

  1. Always watch your children when they’re in or near a pool or spa. If multiple adults are present, designate one of them to watch the children for a designated amount of time and then rotate. This technique will prevent lapses in supervision.
  2. Teach children basic water safety tips and enroll them in swimming lessons.
  3. Keep children away from pool drains, pipes, and other openings as they can create underwater suction with enough force to trap even strong swimmers below the surface.  Install anti-entrapment drain covers and safety release systems to protect against drain entrapment.
  4. Don’t rely on fun toys such as water wings or noodles to keep your children safe. If your child can’t swim, fit them with an appropriate personal floatation device (PFD).
  5. Know the signs of drowning as these symptoms are not easy to spot.  
  6. Have these items close by at all times when you or your family are using a pool or spa: portable telephone, first aid kit, flotation device, and a pair of scissors to cut hair, clothing, or a pool cover if needed.
  7. If a child is missing, look for him or her in the pool or spa first.
  8. Share safety instructions with family, friends, and neighbors.
  9. Learn how to swim and teach your child how to swim.
  10. Learn to perform CPR on children and adults, and update those skills regularly.
  11. Install a five-foot or taller fence around the pool and use self-closing and self-latching gates; ask your neighbors to do the same at their pools.
  12. Install and use a lockable safety cover on your spa.
  13. If your house serves as a fourth side of a fence around a pool, install door alarms and always use them. For added protection, install window guards on windows facing pools or spas.
  14. Install pool and gate alarms to alert you when children go near the water.
  15. Make sure any pool and spa you use has compliant drain covers; ask your pool service provider if you don’t know.
  16. Keep your pool or spa cover is in good shape. If you notice defects have them repaired if possible or buy a new one.

Also consider taking a 2-hour online Home Pool Essentials course that was created in partnership with the Red Cross.

Have a fun – and safe – summer!

Credit:  Personal Lines underwriter Theresa Meyer.