Swimming pools should always be happy places.
Unfortunately, each year thousands of American families confront swimming
pool tragedies, drowning's and near-drowning's of young children.
These tragedies are preventable.
These are guidelines for pool barriers that can help prevent most
submersion incidents involving young children.
This designed for use by owners, purchasers, and builders of residential
pools, spas, and hot tubs. These
guidelines are not intended as the sole method to minimize pool drowning of
young children, just helpful safety tips for safer pools.
Each year, hundreds of young children die and thousands come close to death due
to submersion in residential swimming pools.
CPSC has estimated that each year about 300 children under 5 years old
drown in swimming pools. Hospital
emergency room treatment is required for more than 2,000 children under 5 years
of age who were submerged in residential pools.
CPSC did an extensive study of swimming pool accidents, both fatal
drowning's and near-fatal submersions, in California, Arizona and Florida,
states in which home swimming pools are very popular and in use during much of
the year.
·
In California, Arizona, and Florida,
drowning was the leading cause of accidental
death in and around the home for
children under the age of 5 years.
·
75 percent of the children involved in swimming pool submersion or drowning
accidents were between 1 and 3 years old.
·
Boys between 1 and 3 years old were the most likely victims of fatal drowning's
and near-fatal submersions in residential swimming pools.
·
Most of the victims were being supervised by one or both parents when the
swimming pool accident occurred.
·
Nearly half of the child victims were last seen in the house before the pool
accident occurred. In addition, 23
percent of the accident victims were last seen on the porch or patio, or in the
yard.
·
This means that fully 69 percent of the children who became victims in swimming
pool accidents were not expected to be in or at the pool, but were found drowned
or submerged in the water.
·
65 percent of the accidents occurred in a pool owned by the victim’s immediate
family, and 33 percent of the accidents occurred in pools owned by relatives or
friends.
·
Fewer than 2 percent of the pool accidents were a result of children trespassing
on property where they didn’t live or belong.
·
77 percent of the swimming pool accident victims had been missing for five
minutes or less when they were found in the pool drowned or submerged.
The speed with which swimming pool drowning's and submersions can occur is a
special concern: by the time a child’s absence is noted, the child may have
drowned. Anyone who has cared for a
toddler knows how fast young children can move.
Toddlers are inquisitive and impulsive and lack a realistic sense of
danger. These behaviors, coupled
with a child’s ability to move quickly and unpredictably make swimming pools
particularly hazardous for households with young children.
Swimming pool drowning's of young
children have another particularly insidious
feature: these are silent deaths.
It is
unlikely that splashing or screaming will
occur to alert a parent or caregiver that a
child is in trouble.
The best way to reduce
child drowning's in residential
pools was
for pool owners to construct and maintain
barriers that would prevent young children
from gaining access to pools.
However, there are no substitutes for diligent
supervision.
Why the Swimming Pool Guidelines Were Developed
Young child can get
over a pool barrier if
the barrier is too low or
if the barrier has handholds or
footholds for a child to use
when climbing. The guidelines
recommend that the top of a pool barrier be at least 48 inches above grade,
measured on the side of the barrier which faces away from the swimming pool.
Eliminating handholds and footholds and minimizing the size of openings
in a barrier’s construction.
For a solid barrier
no indentations or protrusions
should be present, other than
normal construction tolerances
and masonry joints. For a barrier
(fence) made up of horizontal and vertical members if
the distance between the
tops of the horizontal members
is less than 45 inches, the horizontal members should be
on the swimming pool side of
the fence. The spacing of the
vertical members should not
exceed 1-3/4 inches. This size
is based on the foot width of a
young child and is intended to
reduce the potential for a
child to gain a foothold. If
there are any decorative cutouts
in the fence, the space
within the cutouts should not
exceed 1-3/4 inches.
The definition of pool includes spas and hot tubs.
The swimming pool barrier guidelines therefore apply to these
structures as well as to conventional swimming pools.
How to Prevent a Child from
Getting OVER a Pool Barrier
A successful pool barrier prevents a child from getting OVER,
UNDER, or THROUGH and
keeps the child from gaining
access to the pool except when
supervising adults are present.
The Swimming Pool Barrier Guidelines
If the distance between the
tops of the horizontal members
is more than 45 inches, the
horizontal members can be on
the side of the fence facing
away from the pool. The spacing
between vertical members
should not exceed 4 inches.
This size is based on the head
breadth and chest depth of a
young child and is intended to
prevent a child from passing
through an opening. Again, if
there are any decorative
cutouts in the fence, the space
within the cutouts should not
exceed 1-3/4 inches.
For a chain link fence the mesh size should not exceed 1-1/4 inches square
unless slats, fastened at the top or bottom of the fence, are used to reduce
mesh openings to no more than 1-3/4 inches.
For a fence made up of
diagonal members
(latticework)
the maximum opening in
the lattice should not exceed
1-3/4 inches.
Aboveground pools should have barriers.
The pool structure itself serves as a barrier or a barrier is mounted on
top of the pool structure. Then,
there are two possible ways to prevent young children from climbing up into an
aboveground pool. The steps or
ladder can be designed to be secured, locked or removed to prevent access, or
the steps or ladder can be surrounded by a barrier such as those described
above. For any pool barrier, the
maximum clearance at the bottom of the barrier should not exceed 4 inches above
grade, when the measurement is done on the side of the barrier facing away from
the pool.
If an aboveground pool has a barrier on the top of the pool, the maximum
vertical clearance between the top of the pool and the bottom of the barrier
should not exceed 4 inches.
Preventing a child from getting through a pool barrier can be done by
restricting the sizes of openings in a barrier and by using self-closing and
self-latching gates.
To prevent a young child
from getting through a fence
or other barrier, all openings
should be small enough so that
a 4-inch diameter sphere cannot
pass through. This size is
based on the head breadth and
chest depth of a young child.
Gates
There are two kinds of gates which might be found on a residential property.
Both can play a part in the design of a swimming pool barrier.
Pedestrian Gates
are the gates people
walk through. Swimming pool
barriers should be equipped
with a gate or gates which
restrict access to the pool. A
locking device should be
included in the gate design.
Gates should open out from
the pool and should be self closing
and self-latching. If a
gate is properly designed, even
if the gate is not completely latched, a young child pushing
on the gate in order to enter
the pool area will at least close
the gate and may actually engage the latch.
When the release mechanism
of the self-latching
device is less than 54 inches
from the bottom of the gate,
the release mechanism for the
gate should be at least 3 inches
below the top of the gate on
the side facing the pool.
Placing the release mechanism
at this height prevents a young
child from reaching over the
top of a gate and releasing the
latch.
Also, the gate and barrier
should have no opening
greater than 1/2 inch within
18 inches of the latch release
mechanism. This prevents a
young child from reaching
through the gate and releasing
the latch.
Other gates should be equipped with self-latching devices.
The self-latching devices should be installed as described for pedestrian
gates.
How to Prevent a Child from Getting UNDER / THROUGH a Pool Barrier
In many homes, doors open directly onto the pool area or onto a patio which
leads to the pool. In such cases,
the wall of the house is an important part of the pool barrier, and passage
through any doors in the house wall should be controlled by security measures.
The importance of controlling a young child’s movement from house to pool
is demonstrated by the statistics obtained during CPSC’s study of pool incidents
in California, Arizona, and Florida.
Almost half (46 percent) of the children who became victims of pool
accidents were last seen in the house just before they were found in the pool.
All doors which give
access to a swimming pool
should be equipped with an
audible alarm which sounds
when the door and/or screen
are opened. The alarm should
sound for 30 seconds or more
within 7 seconds after the
door is opened and should be loud,
at least 85 decibels,
when measured 10 feet away
from the alarm mechanism.
The alarm sound should be
distinct from other sounds in
the house, such as the telephone,
doorbell, and smoke
alarm. The alarm should have
an automatic reset feature.
Because adults will want
to pass through house doors in
the pool barrier without setting
off the alarm, the alarm should
have a switch that allows
adults to temporarily deactivate
the alarm for up to 15
seconds. The deactivation
switch could be a touch pad
(keypad) or a manual switch,
and should be located at least
54 inches above the threshold
of the door covered by the
alarm. This height was selected
based on the reaching ability
of young children.
Power safety covers can be installed on pools to serve as security barriers.
Power safety covers should conform to the specifications in ASTM F
1346-91. This standard specifies
safety performance requirements for pool covers to protect young children from
drowning. Self-closing doors with
self-latching devices could also be used to safeguard doors which give ready
access to a swimming pool.
Indoor Pools
When a pool is located completely within a house, the
walls that surround the pool
should be equipped to serve as
pool safety barriers. Measures
recommended above where a
house wall serves as part of a
safety barrier also apply for all
the walls surrounding an
indoor pool.
Guidelines
An outdoor swimming pool, including an
in ground, aboveground, or on ground pool,
hot tub, or spa, should be provided with a
barrier which complies with the
following:
1. The top of the barrier should be at least 48 inches above grade measured on
the side of the barrier which faces away from the swimming pool.
The maximum vertical clearance between grade and the bottom of the
barrier should be 4 inches measured on the side of the barrier which faces away
from the swimming pool. Where the
top of the pool structure is above grade, such as an aboveground pool, the
barrier may be at ground level, such as the pool structure, or mounted on top of
the pool structure. Where the
barrier is mounted on top of the pool structure, the maximum vertical clearance
between the top of the pool structure and the bottom of the barrier should be 4
inches.
2. Openings in the barrier should not
allow passage of a 4-inch diameter
sphere.
3. Solid barriers, which do not have openings, such as a masonry or stone wall,
should not contain indentations or protrusions except for normal construction
tolerances, and tooled masonry joints.
4. Where the barrier is composed of horizontal
and vertical members and the distance
between the tops of the horizontal members is less than 45 inches, the
horizontal members should be located on the swimming pool side of the fence.
Spacing between vertical members should not exceed 1-3/4 inches in width.
Where there are decorative cutouts, spacing within the cutouts should not
exceed 1-3/4 inches in width.
5. Where the barrier is composed of horizontal and vertical members and the
distance between the tops of the horizontal members is 45 inches or more,
spacing between vertical members should not exceed 4 inches.
Where there are decorative cutouts, spacing within the cutouts should not
exceed 1-3/4 inches in width.
6. Maximum mesh size for chain link
fences should not exceed 1-3/4 inch
square unless the fence is provided with
slats fastened at the top or the bottom
which reduce the openings to no more
than 1-3/4 inches.
7. Where the barrier is composed of diagonal members, such as a lattice fence,
the maximum opening formed by the diagonal members should be no more than 1-3/4
inches.
8. Access gates to the pool should
be equipped to accommodate a
locking device. Pedestrian access
gates
should open outward, away from the pool,
and should be self-closing and have a self latching
device. Gates other than pedestrian
access gates should have a self-latching
device; where the release mechanism of
the self-latching device is located less
than 54 inches from the bottom of the
gate.
·
The release mechanism should be located on the pool side of the gate at
least 3 inches below the top of the gate.
·
The gate and barrier should have no opening greater than 1/2 inch within 18
inches of the release mechanism.
9. Where a wall of a dwelling serves as part of the barrier, one of the
following should apply:
·
All doors with direct access to the pool
through that wall should be equipped with
an alarm which produces an audible warning
when the door and its screen, if present,
are opened. The alarm should sound
continuously for a minimum of 30 seconds
within 7 seconds after the
door is opened. The alarm should have a minimum
sound pressure rating of 85 dBA at
10 feet and the sound of the alarm should
be distinctive from other household
sounds, such as smoke alarms, telephones,
and door bells. The alarm should
automatically
reset under all conditions. The
alarm should be equipped with manual
means, such as touchpad’s or switches, to
temporarily deactivate the alarm for a single
opening of the door from either direction.
Such deactivation should last for no
more than 15 seconds. The
deactivation
touch pads or switches should be located at
least 54 inches above the threshold of the
door.
·
The pool should be equipped with a power safety cover which complies with ASTM
F1346-91 listed below.
·
Other means of protection, such as self-closing doors with self-latching
devices, are acceptable so long as the degree of protection afforded is not less
than the protection afforded by the above.
10. Where an aboveground pool structure is used as a barrier or where the
barrier is mounted on top of the pool structure and the means of access is a
ladder or steps, then:
·
The ladder to the pool or steps
should be capable of being secured,
locked or removed to prevent access.
·
The ladder or steps should be surrounded
by a barrier. When the ladder
or steps are secured, locked, or removed,
any opening created should not allow the
passage of a 4-inch diameter sphere.
These guidelines are intended to provide a means of protection against potential
drowning's and narrowing to children under 5 years of age by restricting access
to residential swimming pools, spas, and hot tubs.
Exemptions
A portable spa with a safety cover which complies with ASTM F1346-91 listed
below should be exempt from the guidelines presented in this document.
Swimming pools, hot tubs, and non portable spas with safety covers should
not be exempt from the provisions of this document.