Summer Pool Safety

Summertime is right around the corner. That means kids will likely be racing each other to the nearest pool. While safety is a concern most in-ground pool owners are aware of, there's a whole new

Thursday, May 18th 2006, 10:35 am

By: News On 6

Summertime is right around the corner. That means kids will likely be racing each other to the nearest pool. While safety is a concern most in-ground pool owners are aware of, there's a whole new market out there of less permanent pools and with them, new dangers.

News on 6 reporter Heather Lewin says the availability of low cost, above ground and inflatable pools is allowing more Americans than ever to have a pool at home. But with the increase in ownership, comes a rise in the number of child drowning deaths.

Mary Beth Ogle with Tulsa Safe Kids: â€Because pool owners are so vigilant and they already have their boundaries and their rules set up but when you bring one in that you can easily inflate, all of a sudden it becomes a great danger yet people aren't as prepared as they are many times with an in-ground pool."

Pools like these are affordable, easy to assemble and can be plunked down anywhere in the yard. That often leaves them with less protection than an in-ground pool. â€œThey don't have to be level, they can be put close to a home, they can be put where children can jump into them and really the water isn't deep enough for children to safely jump into them."

One simple step is to take the ladder out when the pool isn't in use.â€ Safety experts recommend several layers of protection, like a cover *and* an isolation fence.

While some states require safety fencing around a pool, Oklahoma does not. Owners are supposed to have a fence around the backyard, but in Tulsa there is no city ordinance requiring a fence around the pool itself. It's a law the Safe Kids Coalition hopes to put in place. Because whether your pool is portable or permanent. "Any amount of water is dangerous because the mix of a young child and water and no supervision is deadly."

Safety experts urge parents to designate a water watcher, an adult who has eyes on kids in the water at all times. Supervision is always important around pools, studies show many drownings occur when children aren't expected to be near the pool area.