Swimming Pool Safety

Portable pools Kids love water, so setting up a small backyard pool is a favorite summertime activity. The Consumer Product Safety Commission offers these tips to keep your children safe around water:

• Empty and put away smaller portable pools after every use.

• Once the pool is set up, keep close so you provide constant supervision. A tragedy can happen in just moments.

• Fence portable pools and encourage your neighbors with pools to do the same.

• Cover larger portable pools and put access ladders away when adults are not present (make sure they are fenced in, also).

• Install alarms on doors leading from the house to the pool area to alert you when someone enters the pool area.

• Teach children to swim, float and other basic life-saving skills; however, do not consider them “drown-proof” because they have had swimming lessons.

• Make sure your neighbors, babysitters and visitors know about the pool’s presence in your yard.

• Learn and practice CPR so you can help in an emergency.

Source: Consumer Product Safety Commission

Pool electrical safety Whether your pool is a tiny portable blow-up, a hot tub or a full-size inground pool, electricity and water don’t mix. These tips from Safe Electricity will help you keep the two separated for safety:

• Keep anything that is plugged in at least 5 feet from the pool. The farther, the better.

• Have a licensed contractor inspect the pool or hot tub wiring to ensure it meets code requirements.

• Know where electrical switches and circuit breakers are and how to operate them.

• Keep pool skimmers and other far-reaching tools more than 10 feet away from overhead power lines.

• Make sure all outdoor outlets are GFCI protected. Test them once a month.

• Do not touch electrical devices when you are wet or in contact with wet surfaces. Note that this includes cell phones when they are plugged into a charger.

Source: SafeElectricity.org