Thread: Pool safety for parents after two pool tragedies - Tucson News Now

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Pool safety for parents after two pool tragedies Tucson News Now In the latest drowning, there was no gate. Fire officials are not calling it an accident but rather a preventable incident. In this pool safety commercial, it happened in an instant. A child gets into the pool, moms not paying attention and seconds ... and more »

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Makes you think about the concept of teaching infants to swim. Though it would only buy a little time. Still revolves around responsible supervision.

Personally even if I am not inspecting the pool, hot tub or larger water feature I will look to see how accessible those are to others or from the home. If its one slider or door between the home and the pool I will call out that there should be a secondary barrier or an alarm on the door. Hot tubs with covers but no latches get called out. Kids love water features and many are deep enough to protect the fish from predators but that also means its difficult for a child to get out if they fall in. If there is a risk to my clients or liabilities I see it as my job to let the know.

As a firefighter I have been called out for drownings involving children. Those are tough calls to handle especially if you have kids.


//Rick

This is from a different perspective - approving a pool final when there is a screen enclosure, child safety mesh barrier with one end fixed in place, and windows and doors alarmed.

The next week: the screen enclosure is still there, but the child safety mesh barrier has been removed and the window and door alarms have been removed ... BY THE PARENTS of the children who are now at risk of going into the pool and drowning.

Down here, I've been told that Home Depot quit stocking the window and door alarms - the reason? After final inspection the alarms would be removed, put back in their boxes and returned to Home Depot, that upwards of 90% of the window and door alarms they sold were being "returned because they were defective". Instead of replacing the "defective" alarms with new alarms, Home Depot would refund the money, I suspect that if Home Depot did not refund the money that the alarms would still be removed, just thrown into a 'junk' drawer ... never to be seen or used again.

That is because battery powered and plug-in alarms are allowed and meet the standard to which the alarms are tested and listed. The big fight many years ago here in Florida was that there was a push to require the alarms to be "built-in" with new homes. What to do when a pool was added to an existing home? Permanently wire those in too ... nope, allowed to use battery and plug-in types, so why single out new homes for built-in alarms when all the others did not require built-in alarms - that is how the battle was lost and now virtually all alarms are battery operated.

Did you know that the UL standard allows for a delay before sounding the alarm? There is a pool supply company here which stocked pool alarms, when I inspected the fantastic pool the owner was building for his personal house the alarms delayed, I wondered out loud about how long it takes a child to reach the water in relation to the delay before the alarm goes off - that pool supplier did not realize there were two types, he had just been ordering the alarms and they came whichever way they came - he now specifically only stocks and sells the non-delay alarms as he realizes the potential liability he was putting himself and his company in by selling alarms with a delay. I explained it to him this way: You sell the alarms to a parent, the alarms are delay types, the parent installs the alarms, their child drowns in the pool, how long do you think it will take their lawyer to have you transfer your ownership of your store to those parents so they now own your store? His answer: Not long enough.

But we have lot of pool safety products which help to reduce these kind of accidents. Why people try to save few bucks instead of saving the life?

Originally Posted by Tyler R. Hess

Why people try to save few bucks instead of saving the life?

Because they "know" that no life will be lost over it and they also known and can see the 8 bucks they saved.

For the last thirteen years I include a pool safety news letter with report when I have inspected a pool/spa home. About half of my inspections.
Can't add to post, too large. I can email on request.

billmiller3932@gmail.com