Pool Safety Tips for Summer

If you have recently moved into a new home with a pool, consider yourself lucky! However, as new pool owners, it's important to remember to stay safe when enjoying the luxurious amenity. Before you take a dip, take these proper safety measures to prevent injury and accidents this summer.

Take swimming lessons

While knowing how to swim doesn’t prevent all pool-related accidents, it is certainly an important start to water safety for both adults and children. While you can teach your own children to swim, professional swimming lessons for your whole family can help you become better and more confident swimmers. Organizations often offer swimming classes for children and adults so you can learn how to:

• Swim well
• Perform CPR on children and adults
• Understand basic life-saving tactics to assist in an emergency

Keep children supervised
An important way to stay safe in the pool is to never swim alone--especially when it comes to your children.

• Always stay close by and alert when children are swimming or playing near the pool. A child can drown is as little time as it takes to answer a phone.
• Teach your children basic water safety tips, such as never running near the pool.
• Keep children away from pool drains, pipes and other openings to avoid entrapment.
• Keep a phone nearby when you or your family are in the pool in case of emergency.

Make your pool safe
Having the proper equipment is imperative to keep your pool and the surrounding area safe.

• Install a four-foot or taller fence around the pool and spa area and use self-closing and self-latching gates.
• Install and use a lockable safety cover on your spa.
• Ensure your pool or spa has compliant drain covers.
• Maintain your pool and spa covers and make sure they’re in good working order.
• Remove ladders whenever possible when the pool is not in use--it reduces the risk of children climbing in unsupervised.