Have you decided NOT to open your pool this summer? There are many reasons that homeowners might decide to take a break from pool maintenance for a season or two. Perhaps you are leaving your home and traveling for the summer or economic issues have forced you to keep the pool closed for the season. A pool that is unused can be come a potential hazard. Since you are infrequently monitoring the pool, it can be a dangerous liability for local children or animals. If you pool will stay closed this summer, make sure that it is protected with a pool safety cover. Required to hold a minimum of 485 pounds per five square feet, a safety cover provides a solid surface to anyone who may walk into your pool. They are a great way to prevent accidental drowning.
Category Archives: Pool and Spa Safety
Spring Pool Improvements: Pool Steps and Ladders
In today’s second installment of our spring pool improvement series, we will talk about pool steps and ladders. Adding new steps or a new ladder to your pool can definitely add style, but it can do so much more. Replacing these worn parts can also prevent a safety hazard. Old steps and ladders that have been exposed to years of harsh sunlight and chemicals can become brittle, leading to cracks and breaks. This makes their surfaces unstable and prone to accidents. Keep the entrance and exit to your pool safe and attractive. We offer high quality steps and ladders for in ground and above ground pools. They are all classy, practical, and above all safe. Some models even feature added safety features, such as slip up and roll guard protected steps to prevent unauthorized entry into your pool. New steps and ladders are a great way to improve your pool this spring.
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Poop Happens — How Long Before It’s Safe to Swim Again?
We love our kids and pets, but they often find the most curious ways to make more work for the adults in their lives. Take the backyard swimming pool, for example. We spend countless hours every month ensuring that the pool stays clean and safe for our family and friends. We clean the filters, we test the chemical balance in the water and adjust the pool chemicals as needed, we scrub the sides and bottom of the pool regularly to remove dirt and debris, and more. So, when one of our beloved children (furry or otherwise) decides to use the pool as the drop zone for their poop, we understandably freak out. What now?
The first steps are probably obvious — clear all the swimmers out of the pool and then remove the offending poop from the water. But, then what? How long will it take before it’s safe to go back into the water? Well, it depends on what’s in the poop. Poop can contain the E. coli bacterium, the Hepatitis A virus, the Giardia parasite, and/or the super nasty Cryptosporidium parasite. Not many private pool owners have the desire or ability to test the poop to find out what kind of contaminants it contains, but it is important to note that the disinfection time varies greatly depending on the contaminants that the poop introduced into the pool water.
The best approach is to take the most cautious route in case water is contaminated with the hard-to-kill and chlorine-resistant parasite Cryptosporidium. Disinfecting means hyperchlorinating the pool water by increasing free chlorine to either 10 parts per million (ppm) or 20 ppm. The difference comes with the amount of time you’ll have to wait before it’s safe to swim again. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), increasing free chlorine to 10 ppm means you’ll have to wait approximately 26 hours before swimming again. At 20 ppm, swimming can resume after about 13 hours. If you’re using a chlorine stabilizer, though, the game changes a bit.
For full details about what to do when you’ve had poop in your pool, read the CDC’s instruction sheet on “Hyperchlorination to kill Cryptosporidium.” Additionally, instituting a mandatory pre-pool time potty visit for both kids and pets can help prevent future accidents.
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Prepare Now for Safe Summer Swimming
The best time to prepare for a safe swimming season is before the season ever begins. Two of the most important pieces in the pool safety plan can be accomplished now — swim lessons and CPR certification.
Swim Lessons
Children and adults should not only feel comfortable in the water, they should successfully complete basic swimming and water safety training before entering a swimming pool. Even better, swimmers should continue with swimming lessons throughout the season and beyond to increase ability and strength. Your local Y or community center may offer year-round swim lessons. Alternatively, you can contact your local Red Cross to find locations that offer swim lessons.
CPR Certification
Even the strongest swimmers can experience accidents in water, so becoming certified in CPR and first aid is the second crucial step you can take now to prepare for a safe swimming season. Contact your local Red Cross for class offerings. Be sure to take a refresher course every year because you never know when your life-saving skills will be needed.
When swimming season arrives, the swim lessons you and your family take and the CPR certification you achieve will go far in helping prevent accidental injuries and drownings in and around the swimming pool. Don’t forget, though, that responsible adult supervision should always be available when children are playing in and near the water. No preventative measures ever replace proper supervision.
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Simple Steps Save Lives – Pool Safety
Pool Safety is simple, and can save lives!
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Pool Safely campaign aims to educate parents and pool owners/operators about the many ways to provide a safe swimming experience for our children. One important way to ensure that the pool or spa you use is safe is to check that all its drains have safe drain covers.
Non-compliant drain covers can create a dangerous suction that can entrap hair, jewelry, clothing, and body parts. Many injuries and deaths have occurred as a result of this powerful suction. That’s why the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act was passed. Now, public pools and spas are required by law to replace old, hazardous drain covers with compliant, safe drain covers. Owners of residential pools and spas should do the same.
The following short video created by the CPSC’s Pool Safely campaign offers more helpful safety tips related to safety drain covers.