Pool Safety
  • Keep a shepherd’s hook or a floatation ring to throw to a swimmer in trouble.
  • Keep a cordless phone by the pool or install a poolside telephone.  Have emergency numbers handy.
  • Teach children to dial 911 in the event of an emergency.
  • Pools should be maintained year-round so the water is always clear and pool lights are in working order.
  • Keep toys, especially tricycles and other wheeled toys, away from pool.  A child could be attracted to a toy in the water and go after it.
  • Have children age four and older take swimming lessons.  Knowing how to swim reduces children’s fear, but it doesn’t make them drown-proof.
  • Teach children how to float. Learn infant and adult CPR to save the life of anyone in trouble.
  • Have toddlers wear life jackets, not floaties or water wings.  Life jackets should fit snugly.  If you cannot pull the jacket up to the child’s ears, his or her nose will stay above water.
  • Appoint an adult “water watcher” who does nothing except watch children in the pool.  An adult should be within an arm’s length of infants or toddlers, providing “touch supervision.”
  • Fence all four sides of a swimming pool.
  • Enforce these pool rules:
    • No running or rough-housing
    • No diving into shallow water
    • No breath-holding or prolonged underwater swimming
    • No one of any age should swim alone