Installing a pool safety gate can save lives. Between 2005 and 2009, there were 3,533 non-boat related unintentional drownings each year in the United States. That comes out to an average of 10 deaths every day all year long. While the circumstances surrounding these deaths vary considerably, at least, some of them could have been prevented.
One in five of the people in the United States that die from unintentional drowning are children under the age of 14. These numbers only cover the people that died from the drowning. Thousands more are hospitalized as a result of a near-drowning incident. Over half of all drowning victims treated in Emergency Rooms are then admitted for hospitalization or transferred to another facility for further and ongoing care.
Research shows that over half of all pool drownings involving young children could have been prevented if the pool at been separated from the rest of the yard and house with a four-sided fence and pool safety gate. Proper pool safety fences have been proven effective in keeping young children out of the pool when they aren?t supposed to be there.
Fences intended to protect pools should be at least four feet high, and should have Self-closing and self-latching safety gates. Pool gates should always open outward, opposed to inward, and the latch should be out of the reach of children. This means the latch should be at the top of the gate.
Installing a four-sided pool isolation fence does not mean that children will never be able to get in. Children should always be monitored when around a pool. However, an isolation pool fence has been shown to reduce the risk of a child drowning by 83% compared to a three-sided property-line fence.
A four-sided fence separates and protects the pool from both the house and the yard. A three-sided property-line fence protects the pool from children coming in from outside the yard but does not stop children coming from inside the house into the yard.
Swimming is an extremely popular past time in the United States. According to a recent survey, there are 10.4 million residential pools and 309,000 public swimming pools throughout the US. Most people state that they can swim, yet studies show that 44% of people do not know basic water-safety. Further, only 56% of people surveyed can do the five core swimming skills.
Despite the lack of safety skills and basic swimming skills, 36% of all children between the ages of 7 and 17 in the United States and 15% of all adults swim at least six times a year. Even for children that know how to swim, there is a danger of drowning. If they are playing, not dressed appropriately for a pool, or at the pool without supervision, they are at an increased risk.
Child Guard pool fences, custom swimming pool nets, a pool safety gate, and pool fencing are all ways to dramatically reduce the risk of children drowning in a pool. All of these can be readily found and professionally installed. The peace of mind knowing your pool is secure goes a long way. However, even with these protections in place, it is important always to monitor children playing in or near a yard with a pool.
