When temperatures rise, it is always refreshing to take a dip in your own swimming pool. However, these structures are a serious danger, especially to children. Every year, there are deaths due to drowning in backyard pools.
Parents Magazine explains that as the pool owner, you have the responsibility to ensure nobody gets hurt in it, including those you invite to swim and those you do not. The best way to limit your liability is to ensure you install safety devices and take other steps to prevent accidents.
Set rules and enforce them
Make rules for your pool, and post them. Make sure children know that they cannot go in or around the pool without an adult present and watching them. Insist that adults follow the rules, too. They need to set an example for the children. In addition, make sure adults know that someone must always be watching the children when they are swimming and that adult should not be doing anything else that could distract him or her.
You also need to enforce the rules. Do not give anyone a second chance. If they break a rule, they do not swim. Stick to it so everyone knows how serious you are about the pool rules.
Install safety barriers and devices
Make sure you have a fence around the pool that does not allow easy access. Install a locking latch on gates and ensure fences are high enough that someone could not easily climb over them. Also, put a gate on the pool or install safety barriers that prevent someone from accidentally falling in.
Use high-tech safety devices, such as alarms that alert you to something in the pool, or barrier alarms that will alert you when someone enters the pool area.