Swimming Pool & Hot Tub Safety

When it comes to swimming pool and hot tub safety you can never have too much safety for your family and friends!

Read through our article to learn how to improve the safety around the pool and spa.

Do You Need a Pool Fence Around a Pool?

There are many drowning deaths around the world every year due to young children falling into a backyard swimming pool.

Most government authorities around the world now require pool owners to fully fence their outdoor swimming pools for safety reasons. The regulations vary between countries and states so please check with your local authority.

The requirement to fence all backyard pools is a reaction by governments and local authorities to try to prevent or minimize the occurrence of drownings.

A pool owner may be legally liable for a death or injury of a person invited or allowed to swim in the swimming pool if the pool and surroundings do not comply with the current legislative regulations or the pool was poorly maintained.

Read our article on Do I Need a Pool Fence?

Does a Spa or Hot Tub Need a Fence?

If you only have a spa pool or a hot tub you can avoid having to fence the facility by installing a securely lockable lid on the pool or tub. The lid must be closed and locked when the spa or hot tub is not in use.

In some jurisdictions, the spa or hot tub will still need to be inspected by a pool safety inspector.

However, if you have a swimming pool and spa both will need to be fully fenced.

Read our article Pool Safety Signs Prevent Accidents & Save Lives

Swimming Pool Safety Enclosure

Pool enclosures cover the entire area around your pool to protect your family from wind, heat, light, insects and debris entering your pool area. Children have been known to climb over pool fences and drown but they won’t be getting through a pool enclosure.

Do you find that you don’t enjoy using the pool in the evening because the mosquitoes are biting?

When you are grilling the meat are you attracting swarms of flies?

Are you tired of fishing out frogs and other animals from the pool?

Have you ever had a family of ducks take up residence in the pool?

Does your pool seem to easily accumulate dirt and leaves that clog up the skimmer basket and filter?

If you meet the following criteria then a fully enclosed pool area is what you need.

If you live in an area with:

• Mosquitoes & Insects
• Swamps, lakes or rivers
• Frogs & Toads
• Wild bird life e.g., ducks
• Often windy
• Extreme heat or cold

If you want to:

• Make your pool area more private
• Keep children out of your pool
• Extend the swimming season
• Reduce evaporation from the pool
• Keep your pool area cleaner
• BBQ or grill food outdoors
• Dine outdoors without insects

Please read our article on Swimming Pool Enclosures for more information.

Swimming Pool Safety Electrical Hazards

All swimming pools are connected to pumps, filters, lights, heaters, chlorinators and other electrical equipment. If this equipment is incorrectly installed there is the danger that you could receive an electrical shock from your pool.

Earthing Your Pool Fence

Many pool owners are totally unaware that their new swimming pool fence may need to be earthed to comply with electrical safety standards. There is the possibility that a person can suffer an electric shock from a pool fence if there is an electrical current in the pool water caused by an electrical fault in the pool equipment.

An equipotential bond (earthing) may be required to all metal structures around the pool including steel reinforcing in the pool shell, pool light fittings, support structures, handrails and fences.

As aluminum pool fences are one continuous structure the fence only needs to be earthed in one location. However, glass pool fences may need to be earthed at every metal panel fitting as they are all individually attached to the ground.

Pool owners should make their own enquiries at their local council for pool fencing requirements and the installation of an equipotential bond. Only use a licensed electrical contractor familiar with swimming pools to install an equipotential bond.

Do I Need a Swimming Pool Safety Certificate?

Many authorities around the world now require a pool safety certificate when buying, selling or leasing a property with a swimming pool. It is illegal to sell, buy or rent a home without it even if there are no young children in the household. Usually the land titles office will not complete a title transfer for the sale of a property without the pool safety certificate. If you are a property owner and rent your property you can be fined for not having a pool fence.

The process for obtaining a safety certificate is to contact the local authority for a pool safety compliance inspector to visit your home and check your pool and backyard is in compliance with the regulations. When you have met the compliance regulations a pool safety certificate is issued.

Search on the internet for a pool safety inspector in your area.

Do I Need a Pool Alarm?

Most people think a pool alarm is only necessary when you have children but there are many other reasons to have a pool alarm.

You will most likely want a pool alarm for the following reasons:

• There are young children in your household
• You have grandchildren visiting your household
• There is an elderly person at home
• You have a physically or mentally disabled person at home
• The neighbors children swim in your pool
• There are pets at home.
• You rent a room in your home.
• You frequently have guests or relatives staying at your home.
• Some countries or states require a pool alarm by law.

Read our article on The Best Swimming Pool Alarms to Save Lives

Should You Shower After You Swim?

Yes, for swimming pool safety reasons you should always shower after you swim in a pool, hot tub or any water.

The reason you should take a shower after swimming is to remove any chemical residues or contaminants from your body.

Don’t forget to rinse out your swimwear to make it last longer. It’s a good idea to occasionally put your swimwear in the washing machine on a delicate cycle to clean it properly.

All swimming pools have sanitizing chemicals, such as chlorine, to kill contaminants in the pool water. This must be washed from your body and hair.

There are also many other pool chemicals in the water such as hydrochloric acid, salt, cyanuric acid, sodium carbonate and algaecide.

If not washed from your body these pool chemicals can dry your skin causing irritation, redness, itching, eczema, and rashes.

There may be traces of bacteria or viruses in the pool that have not been killed by the chlorine. If these contaminants get into an open wound or scratch you can develop an infection or illness.

Showering with soap after swimming removes the chance of contracting infections.

Read our article on Should You Shower Before You Swim in a Pool?

Swimming Pool Safety & Dogs

As a swimming pool is a sanitized environment it is generally accepted that a dog can join the kids and go for a swim in the pool. As long as your filter and chlorinator are working normally the dog cannot do any harm to the pool water.

However, there are a few things to consider:

• Provide a bowl of fresh water for your dog to drink and discourage your dog from drinking the pool water. Pool water contains salt, chlorine, hydrochloric acid, cyanuric acid, sodium carbonate and algaecide which is not good for an animal or human to drink. However, pool water will not harm your dog if only a small amount is ingested.
• Wash your dog with fresh water after swimming to remove pool water from its fur.
• If you have put any kind of parasite control on your dog swimming may dilute its effect so you will need to reapply the control.
• Don’t let your dog swim if it has any sort of skin condition as it may become worse.
• If your dog swims in the pool regularly you may want to shock the pool more frequently to protect your family with extra sanitization.
• You may find you are getting dog fur in the skimmer basket and filter which needs to be removed.

Most pool owners do not report any swimming pool safety problems with allowing their dog into the pool.

Read our article on Train Your Dog to Like the Pool

Can You Wear Contact Lenses in a Pool?

Research any official medical website and the advice is to not wear contact lenses while swimming in a pool or any water. The reasons are as follows:

• Contact lenses have a high water content and are porous. A contact lens will absorb water from a pool or spa damaging the lens.
• When a lens absorbs water it will change shape causing eye irritation.
• Pool and spa water contains chemicals that will damage the lens.
• The porous nature of the lens will allow bacteria and contaminants to attach to the lens or slip between the lens and your eye. This leads to eye irritations and infections.
• When your eyes are opened underwater the lenses will lose surface tension which hold the lenses to the cornea. The lenses will be washed from the surface of the eyes.

Keep Mosquitoes Out Of Your Pool

If you live in a tropical, sub-tropical or warm temperate region you may encounter mosquitos in your backyard especially around your pool area. Stagnant water, vegetation and natural scents attract mosquitos. Mostly mosquito bites are harmless but some mosquitos can be dangerous because they can carry many different diseases such as dengue fever, encephalitis, malaria, West Nile virus, yellow fever and zika virus. And that’s just the common diseases.

If you have mosquitos around your pool you really need to get rid of them for swimming pool safety reasons.

The best deterrence against mosquitos is maintaining a clean, tidy backyard, a properly sanitized swimming pool with no puddles or ponds of stagnant water where mosquitos like to breed. The best defence against mosquitos is to install an insect zapper, apply insect repellent, use an outdoor fan and cover your pool when not in use.

Read our article on How to Keep Mosquitoes Out Of Your Pool

Keep Ducks Out of Your Pool

You may laugh but having a family of ducks in your pool is a common problem for pool owners in the spring season. Your family may enjoy having cute ducklings swimming around in the pool but what about the contamination of bird faeces, feathers, bacteria and viruses in the pool.

When you are not using your pool and your pool is properly sanitized with chlorine some ducks floating around in the pool is not going be harmful. However, allowing ducks to use your pool as a toilet is unhygienic and you really should move them on. The simplest methods are to frighten the ducks away with noise, dogs, floating toys and pool cleaners.

The best solution is to buy a pool cover so the ducks cannot land in the pool.

Please read our article on Keeping Ducks Out Of Your Pool

Keep Frogs Out Of Your Pool

Frogs and toads are attracted to your pool because there is an available food source in your backyard and a water supply in your pool. Frogs are amphibious creatures that are naturally attracted to water and will seek out your pool especially if it’s the dry season and there is little water around. Sometimes it’s simply the pool light or it’s the lush vegetation you have in your landscaping that attract insects that frogs want to eat.

Frogs may be useful for controlling insects and other pests in your garden but you don’t want them in your pool for health reasons. Frogs carry all sorts of bacteria and other diseases that may harm your family. Normally, the chlorine in the pool will kill off these contaminants but if your chlorine level is low and frogs get into the pool there could be real health issues.

The main issue with frogs and toads is that they will breed and lay thousands of eggs in your pool. If this happens you will see a cloudy mess of eggs floating on top of the water. Scoop them out with a net or let the skimmer deal with the problem and they will end up in the filter.

If you allow frogs in your pool you will inevitably end up with some dead and decaying frogs in the water – not nice for swimming pool safety!

Balance Your Pool Chemistry

The prevention is always better than the cure. The simplest and best way to save money on your pool is to always follow your maintenance routine and keep the pool water chemistry balanced. Once the chemistry gets out of balance you will have all sorts of problems to deal with costing you more.

The most frequently forgotten chemical is cyanuric acid or pool stabilizer. This chemical must be manually added to the pool and is essential to your water chemistry because it binds to chlorine to prevent the chlorine from quickly evaporating in hot weather. This increases the effective lifespan of the chlorine to better sanitize your pool. If the chlorine level drops to low your pool is fully exposed to algae spores and bacteria.

By keeping your pool chemistry balanced you will avoid these problems:

• Algae
• green water
• cloudy water
• chlorine not sanitizing the water
• marks on the pool surface
• water stinging your eyes
• smelly water
• dirt laying on the bottom
• and more…

Regularly Clean the Filter

It’s very important to stick to your regular maintenance schedule and clean the filters.

If your filter is dirty the filtration system will be inefficient. This reduces the water flow through your filter causing poor filtration. The load on the pump increases and requires running the pump for a longer time to clean the pool. Don’t forget to empty the skimmer basket and check the pump basket as well.

If the filter is old and becoming harder to clean replace it with a new one.

If you have a cleaning robot or suction crawler don’t forget to clean it and service it. They have many rubber or gel-like fittings that tend to wear out quickly so check these cleaners frequently for splits or worn parts.

Swimming Pool Safety – Handling Chemicals

Pool chemicals are dangerous and reactive.

Please ensure that you store pool chemicals in a cool, dry location and keep them out of the reach of children. Wear gloves and protective clothing when handling chemicals. Always carefully read the instructions on the packaging first.

NEVER MIX CHEMICALS TOGETHER

You should never mix pool chemicals together as they may react leading to fire, explosion or release of toxic chlorine gas. Even mixing dry chlorine with liquid chlorine may cause an explosion.

NEVER ADD WATER TO CHEMICALS, ALWAYS ADD CHEMICALS TO WATER.

You must never add water to chemicals because the chemical may react with the water causing an explosion or the release of toxic chlorine gas that has the potential to damage your lungs. It is far safer to add a small amount of chemical to a larger amount of water to reduce any unwanted reactions.

How to Shock a Swimming Pool

The term “shocking your pool” is pool industry slang language for super chlorinating your pool. All it means is giving your pool an extra dose of chlorine to ensure the pool is adequately sanitized by killing bacteria, viruses and algae that may exist in the water.

When swimming pool water begins to emit a strong bleach smell or looks dull, hazy or pale green this indicates there is little or no free chlorine in the water. This commonly occurs after heavy usage, a period of hot weather or a storm which diminishes the free chlorine leaving your pool open to bacteria and a build-up of chloramines. Adding a shock treatment to your pool will solve the problem.

Read our article on How to Shock Treatment Swimming Pools

Install a Swimming Pool Safety Cover

A pool cover has many benefits.

Obviously, the cover will keep the pool cleaner by preventing leaves, dirt and other debris from entering the water. This will save your filter and reduce the pump running time.

A cover will dramatically reduce water evaporation from the pool preserving your expensive pool chemicals and reduce the need to top up the pool with tap water.

If you heat your pool a cover will retain heat overnight cutting your daily heating costs.

If you are worried about pool safety you can install a person proof cover to prevent people falling into the pool.

Swimming Pool Safety & Coronavirus

The corona virus has rapidly spread around the world infecting thousands of people and has disrupted our lives. You may be concerned about the health and wellbeing of your family in regards to the use of your swimming pool and spa or hot tub. People are asking the question – is it safe to swim in the pool and use the hot tub?

Yes, it is regarded as safe to use your swimming pool, spa or hot tub as the corona virus cannot survive in sanitized pool or spa water. Chlorine and bromine are proven to kill all bacteria and viruses on contact. When you properly sanitize the pool or spa water with chlorine or bromine and correctly operate and maintain your filtration system the COVID-19 virus is inactivated and filtered from the pool water.

However, until the corona virus pandemic is over maintain physical distancing between people to prevent the spread of the disease. Do not invite your friends or your kid’s friends over to swim in the pool. Try to minimize the number of people you invite into your home to avoid the spread of the disease.

Centre for Disease Control and Prevention

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have issued a statement about pool safety relating to corona virus.

“There is no evidence that COVID-19 can be spread to humans through the use of pools and hot tubs. Proper operation, maintenance, and disinfection (e.g., with chlorine and bromine) of pools and hot tubs should remove or inactivate the virus that causes COVID-19.”

As long as you follow your normal pool maintenance routine and correctly sanitize and filter your pool water you don’t have anything to worry about.

Make sure you are regularly testing your pool water. Ensure there is the correct level of free chlorine or bromine which will kill all bacteria and viruses.

Other Swimming Pool Safety Measures

• Non-slip surfaces around the pool area to prevent falls.
• No sharp corners or uneven surfaces outside at the pool.
• Install a pool ladder to ensure swimmers can enter and exit the pool safely.
• Ensure all family members know how to swim.
• Never allow anyone to swim unattended – children and adults.
• Store away pool chemicals from children.
• Never mix pool chemicals as they can explode.

Conclusion

The number one priority for all pool operators is swimming pool & hot tub safety, safety and more safety.

Safety is a constant concern for every parent who has a swimming pool and young children. You cannot watch your children every second of the day. However, if your child drowned in a pool and it was your fault you would never forgive yourself.

Check out our other posts on this site to help you improve your pool safety. And reduce the time and effort to operate your pool. After all, you want to spend more time in your pool rather than maintaining it.