To all homeowners with pools

Hello pool owner. Your Pool Technician reads a newspaper where this story was published and he as asked to give you a copy.

Every two weeks, Service Industry News published a list of national drownings. Sometimes the list takes up three pages but we can almost always count on at least 30 drownings over a 2-week period in any given month.

Your Pool Technician is aware of the number of drownings that happen and he/she wanted to share with you what so many people with pools have never really grasped.

#1. My children can swim so it’s OK if they are in the pool without me REALLY watching.

NO! While your child might be a great swimmer, anyone can drown. As recently as two months ago, two Navy Seals died while swimming and they could have swum circles around your kid and we don’t even know your kid!

#2. We have a fence/gate around our pool and so no one can get in.

WRONG! There are hundreds of cases each year where people thought their pool was off limits because they has a gate or a fence around their pool but kids still get in and drown all the time.

When you get right down to it, we are using these gates and fences as though they are 100-percent death proof and we rely on the protective (false) comfort they provide. Just because you have a gate does not make your pool area safe. In fact, in many cases it is more dangerous than ever because of the false sense of security it provides.

#3. When kids are in our pool we are always around.

AROUND? Being around is the same as negligence. That’s right. Watching a child while in a pool MEANS doing nothing else other than watching. If you are doing anything other than watching your child then you might as well not be there.

Many of the accidents we have seen have happened while the whole family was in attendance. If anyone is truly paying attention then that means NO distractions. This means NO talking with someone next to you, NO talking on the phone and the designated water watcher must be sober.

#4. I am a very careful parent and children are safer in my pool than anywhere else in the neighbourhood.

Well, maybe you are but it turns out that the average pool owner is more likely to see a death in their house than someone that has no pool but a loaded gun. In the year 2000 there were 11,000 privately owned pools and 550 children under the age of 10 died in them. Yet during the same year from a population of 200 million privately owned guns, 175 children under 10 years of age died accidentally.

#5. My child only swims when there ia a lifeguard on duty.

REALLY? Do you realyy trust your child’s life with a TOTAL stranger? Are you willing to risk your child’s life on the merits of a person who at best is being paid of $15 per hour.

No one cares about your child more than you do. Prove it!