Swimming Pool Safety - Wilmington, NC

When spending time at the pool the number one concern should be for the safety of all those around. If you choose to keep reading you will find some helpful tips on how to ensure your family is safe and healthy regardless of if they are around or in a commercial or residential swimming pool or spa.

Standard Safety Tips

1. Before entering, or letting your family members enter, into a swimming pool you need to familiarize yourself with the surroundings. This includes identifying the location of all life saving equipment, life guards, and any first aid or emergency supplies that could be needed.
2. Rules are put in place to protect everyone enjoying the facility. Be sure to read all the rules posted on various pool signs and also follow them. Your safety and the safety of those around you depend on it!
3. Dirty water is a sign that something is wrong. If you cannot see the drain covers on the bottom of the pool something could be wrong and bacteria could be growing in the water.
4. Your child is your responsibility, so if you choose to bring them keep a close watch at all times on them.
5. Always have a partner, swimming alone can be dangerous and should never be practiced regardless of your skill level.
6. Diving only needs to occur in water that has a minimum depth of 5 feet, any less and you risk injury while diving.

---

Safe use of Pool Chemicals
Proper water chemistry is something that every pool cleaner in Wilmington, and any other area, should be well versed in. If you are searching for a swimming pool maintenance and service provider this is the minimum skill they should have to keep your pool functioning properly. Improper water chemistry create multiple safety issues including the following:

• Skin irritation due to high bromine and chlorine levels
• Skin irritation from extremely low PH levels
• Bacterial infections from algae growth
• Eye irritation from high levels of chloramine

Child Drowning Prevention
The number one cause of injury deaths for children between the age of 1 and 4 is drowning. The CDC estimates that up to three children a day die from drowning. These are preventable deaths that can be stopped using the appropriate safety measures. The more measures that are implemented the lower the risk is of an unsupervised child entering into a pool. Some of these measures include pool fencing, safety covers that deploy automatically, door and exit gates that have alarms, water level sensors and alarms, safety ring buoy, safety rope and float line, and locking spa covers. None of these can replace adult supervision but they can give a warning that a child is at risk of drowning and allow enough time for an adult to come to their aid.

Drain Cover Safety & Entrapment Prevention
In order for your pool to properly function it must circulate water through a pump and filter unit. While this helps to keep your water clean and clear it does create a potentially dangerous situation, especially for you children who do not have the strength to free themselves. When something or someone is stuck on a drain cover this is considered suction entrapment. Since 2008 pool covers have to meet standards that are intended to reduce the risk of entrapment in accordance with the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act. The Association of Pool & Spa Professionals (APSP) has published information about entrapment prevention and you can find their website here. Some of the steps they recommend are below.

• Have your pool or spa inspected by an industry professional familiar with the best practices and regulations
• All covers need to be in place and up to the latest standards which will be marked with "VGB2008", "ASME/ANSI A112.19.8-2007" or will have a swimmer logo on it. Broken or inadequate covers are just as bad as a missing cover.
• If any drain covers or suction fittings are found to be loose, broken, or missing DO NOT enter the pool or spa
• If loose, broken, or missing covers are found notify the pool or spa owner immediately and do not continue use of the facility until an industry professional has made the necessary repair. 
• Entrapment Includes the following types

1. ​Limbs - Improperly covered drains can allow arms or legs to be lodged to the point where they cannot be pulled free. Turning off the pump may not free the person who is stuck this way.
2. Body - The suction of the pool's pump system can hold down any part of a body that covers a drain
3. Hair - Inadequate drain covers can allow hair to be entangled
4. Mechanical - Non-compliant drains and covers can allow Items like jewelry or a bathing suit to become entangled and entrap the wearer of these items.
5. Evisceration - Disembowlment and other injuries can occur from missing or broken covers and also when sitting on a drain with active suction 

T E S T I M O N I A L S

Safety First

After recently purchasing a home with a pool we needed help! We had never owned a pool before and the technician was able to help us balance the water and also recommend all the needed safety upgrades to keep our liability risk low. We needed to replace the drain covers and also fix the lock on the gate leading into the pool area. These small affordable changes ensures that no-one will accidentally make it into our pool and that we can relax when friends are over with their children.

Mary Buncome