Swimming Pools -- Safety is a Must
According to economist Steven D. Levitt, yearly there is one drowning of a child for every 11,000 residential swimming pools. With this figure being higher than deaths from accidental shootings, pool safety needs to be at the forefront of every pool owners mind.
It is always advisable to keep a close watch on small children around swimming pools, especially private pools that do not have professional lifeguards, as pools present a significant risk of infant and toddler death due to drowning. In regions where residential pools are common, drowning is a major cause of childhood fatalities. Adults are more likely to be aware of risks, but it is still a good idea to have more than one person around when using a private pool.
In public pools there is a lower risk of accident, with trained lifeguards on duty whenever the pool is open. Because of the risk of drowning and the desire for greater safety, combined with technological advances that make such safety possible, more and more public pools are equipped with computer-aided drowning prevention or other forms of electronic and sometimes automated safety and security systems. Among these are the Poseidon system, Swimguard, and the Drowning Early Warning System (DEWS). Where safety and privacy are concerned, the trend seems to be toward safety.
The best way to ensure safety around swimming pools is to be educated. Knowing how a swimming pool works greatly improves safety. For instance, long haired individuals must avoid water inlets. These inlets, also known as ""skimmers"", are rectangular holes on the wall that are sometimes partially or completely underwater. In private swimming pools there can be one to two inlets; on public pools there can be five to twenty ""skimmers"". Another thing to avoid are the ""main drains"" which are usually identified as round mesh covered objects on the pool floor, as poor design can occasionally result in a safety problem. Building codes and product standards have eliminated these hazards for current designs, but not all pools are up-to-date or up to standard.
Also the bigger the body of water, the greater ""force"" it needs to have the water circulating. Stronger water pumps are used on large bodies of water to keep the swimming pool healthy so extra care must be taken when swimming along the sides or floor of the swimming pool. (Source: Wikipedia)
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