Swimming Pool Gates – Keeping Our Children Safe
Far too many children die each year in swimming pools. These deaths are all (every single one) preventable by utilizing the latest fences and gates available.
Swimming pools are great for cooling off in the summer heat or, if you have a heated pool, they are great for working out all year round. They are beautiful to look at and improve the aesthetics and value of any property. But, along with the beauty of a pool there are enormous safety risks. Every year thousands of children drown-most of them in pools. The horrific part of this statistic is that, most of the time, they could be avoided had the swimming pool area been secured by a professionally installed gate and fence.
When shopping for a pool side gate and fence make sure that the gate latch is high up so that a child cannot reach it. This allows adults full control of the pool area. Gates can be fitted with an alarm that sounds when the gate is opened; alerting the parent or carer that someone is entering the swimming pool area.
An important feature of a swimming pool gate is that it should be self closing and self latching, so that children cannot enter the area unattended. The fence should be sturdy and secure, made of either wrought iron or mesh. The fence doesn’t need to be six foot tall but should be a decent height so that children cannot climb over it. With a wrought iron fence, the bars should be a decent width so that small children cannot slip through the bars and into the pool area unnoticed. Ponds should also be fitted with a small fence. This acts as a deterrent and stops small children falling into the pond.
Richard Conway has been working in the field of gate automation for many years. He has assisted in the development and construction of cutting edge designs and has often been awarded for his efforts. Richard has a passion for fences and will work with them till retirement (and probably beyond).