Keeping your children and pets safe around your swimming pool is one of your primary concerns as a pool owner, whether you currently own a pool or are planning on hiring pool builders to install one in the near future.

A well-designed pool can be one of the top attractions of your home, but you’ll need to properly secure it to protect your family and reduce the chance of an accident occurring.

Pool injuries can be serious for your pets or children and there are several things to take into consideration.

Here are some tips to make sure your swimming pool safe:

Click here to see 30 amazing pool design ideas (open in a new window).

Set up barriers around your pool

It’s essential to set up portable barriers around your pool after you have installed it to prevent accidental falls when no one is supervising it.

You’ll want to surround your pool with an outward facing self-latching gate or barrier that is at least 4 feet in height.

Above ground pool fence has been effective in preventing accidental drowning.

For additional safety, use a pool safety cover when you’re not using it.

Make sure you remove any ladders or objects that could be used to climb the barrier.

You can also set up motion alarms around the pool to alert you with a sound when anyone is near the pool or when someone goes from the house to the backyard.

Action Step: Research for portable pool barriers or motion alarms to prevent accidental access to your swimming pool.

Supervise young children at all times

It may seem obvious, but young children who are learning how to swim should be supervised at all times while you are in the pool.

Keep them within an arm’s length of distance and very young children should be held at all times when you’re in the pool.

Never allow young children who have not learned how to swim to play in the pool by themselves or with an older child who may not be able to fully understand the importance of watching them at every second.

Action Step: Make sure you supervise and educate young children about swimming pool safety.

Take your children to swimming lessons

If you hire a pool builder to install a new swimming pool in your home, you should also be sure to take your children to swimming lessons during the installation.

You can easily find a reputable swimming instructor for your children simply by searching on Google.

This way, once your pool is ready they will have a good foundation in swimming already.

Take them to as many professional swimming lessons as you can to ensure that they are prepared for your pool. The sooner you start the better, and it will also help to ensure that your children are able to enjoy their new pool to the fullest.

Action Step: Search local swimming pool lessons in your city.

Make horseplay off limits around the pool

Horseplay or rough play around and in pools frequently results in sometimes serious injuries, so you should make it a rule to have no horseplay around the swimming pool.

Spinal injuries can occur when children are pushed into pools unexpectedly, and slips and falls are also common with horseplay.

Regular play around and in the pool is fine, but also make it a rule to prohibit running which can easily lead to slips and falls.

Here are fun ideas for your swimming pool rules signs.

Action Step: Write down rules you want to enforce around your swimming pool and make sure everyone can read it.

Keep glass out of your backyard

Broken glass in a pool can be a nightmare to clean up, as it requires a meticulous process to ensure that every little shard is cleared from the pool.

To avoid this situation, keep all types of glasses and bottles outside of your backyard or away from your pool at the very least.

Broken glass can lead to all types of injuries and it can be easy to miss when it’s in a pool.

Use plastic cups or other containers that can’t break.

Action Step: Get rid of all glass utensils around your pool.

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All adults should know CPR

Every adult in the household should have a recent CPR certification. You never know when you will need to perform CPR, and it’s always good to know it when you have pets and children at home.

There are a number of lessons that you can take online as well as locally.

It’s also a good idea to take a first aid course and if you want to take it a step further you can even take a basic lifeguard course.

However at the minimum, be sure to have a CPR certification which will allow you to adequately respond to the most serious aquatic emergencies.

Here are more resources about performing CPR:
– Red Cross CPR Steps
– CPR Illustrated in 3 simple steps

and How To Perform CPR video:

Action Step: Take CPR class or at least watch videos on how to perform CPR.

Make sure you hire a professional pool installer

It’s essential to hire a professional pool builder to ensure that your pool meets all adequate safety requirements, including appropriately installed GFCI pool lights, compliant drain covers and more.

Look for pool contractors that are licensed.

There is a risk of suction injury, electrocution or other injuries if your pool installation company is not properly experienced or licensed.

Ask them for suggestions on how to make your swimming pool safe. Professional pool builders should know how to answer this question.

Be careful to choose a company that has an excellent safety record and many years of experience with pool installations so that your pool is completely safe for your family.

Action Step: This one is obvious. Make sure you hire a reputable pool builder in your area and ask them about how to make it safe.

Conclusion

Having a swimming pool on your backyard could very well be a good investment as backyard pool could increase your home value by a decent amount. However, as a homeowner, you must also prevent costly accidents around your pool area.

Modern equipment like pool barriers, motion censor alarms, skills like learning how to swim from early age and perform CPR, and also old-fashioned good parenting can make sure your pool is safe for your children and pets.

One more thing to consider is to tell everyone including your children to call 911 when accident occurs.

So there you have it. We hope this article helps you decide what safety features you need to keep your children and pets safe around your swimming pool.