One of the benefits of owning a property in the Canary Islands is the wonderful culture of ‘Outdoor Living’, often complimented by having the use of a swimming pool.
Most villas have their own pool & it’s easier to find an apartment complex with a pool than without one. They’re cooling, refreshing, therapeutic, even healthy, and great fun for all ages, but whether you have a private pool, or use a communal pool, the safety factors can sometimes out-weigh the benefits.
If you have young children & you have a swimming pool in your garden, or if you rent out your villa for holidays, it is important to make SWIMMING POOL SAFETY a priority.
Children are drawn to water, often completely unaware of the dangers.
SWIMMING POOL SAFETY FOR CHILDREN DOESN’T HAVE TO MEAN THIS!
A POOL SAFETY FENCE WILL PROVIDE PEACE OF MIND FOR PARENTS
MAKING FULL USE OF YOUR GARDEN
For families, the time spent in your pool can be great fun – kids absolutely love the water & will spend many a happy hour splashing around.
But what about those times when you want to just relax & read a book, or when you’re making lunch or preparing food for a BBQ? Parents don’t like to leave their children playing in the water unsupervised.
You can bring the children inside, but with doors & windows open to let in the breeze, the chances are that they’ll be lured back outside to the delights of the water. Children only focus on fun and can be completely unaware of the dangers.
In addition to this, if you rent out your property, parents may not like the idea of extra stress on their holidays worrying that their child may not be safe.
So, aside from the positive aspects of having a pool, it’s important to be aware of the following:-
FACTS
- Most parents are responsible people and think that it cannot happen to them. But it can. Children are drawn to water, not knowing the terrible danger pools can pose.
- Every year, many children are seriously injured in pools, or even die from drowning. Many of these deaths, or near deaths, take place in residential and holiday home swimming pools.
- A child can drown in less than 2 minutes. The general misconception is that there will be splashing and shouting so parents can come to the rescue. Sadly, this isn't the case.
- Pool accidents happen quickly & the outcome can be devastating. In the time it takes to go inside for cold drinks, a child can die.
- Within 2 minutes of being submerged, a child will lose consciousness. Within 4-6 minutes, brain damage occurs. Of children who survive, only about 20% are found in 2 minutes. Almost 80% are not found until 10 minutes after being submerged.
For these reasons it is vital that you not only learn the importance of pool safety, but also that you put that knowledge into practice.
STATISTICS
Information from RoSPA (The Royal Society For The Prevention Of Accidents) :-
- Between the years 2000-2005, 475 British tourists drowned on holiday.
- 57 of these were children, predominately drowning in hotel swimming pools or the private pool at the villa where the family was staying.
- Over the last six years 30 children under 10 years old have drowned in holiday swimming pools abroad - RoSPA believes that all of these deaths could have been prevented.
The under-10’s drowned in the following places:
- Hotels – 12
- Holiday villas / homes – 8
- Campsites - 2
- Unknown - 8
More than half of these victims were under 4 years old and those children between 6 and 9 years could all swim.
Not pleasant reading and you may be wondering if the only safe solution is to keep your young ones under lock & key! This is not the case – there are a number of safety measures you can have installed.
ADVICE/ RECOMMENDATIONS
RoSPA recommends that villas with pools should have a safety barrier with a lockable gate (permanent or otherwise) that will stop young children from getting into the pool without your help. It’s simple – if a child cannot get to the pool when there is no adult with them, they cannot drown.
CONFUSED ABOUT THE CURRENT SPANISH/CANARIAN LAWS ON POOL SAFETY?
Here is a summary of the current legal situation with regard to pool safety laws (this information is by no means exhaustive & is not meant to be a definitive interpretation of the law):-
1. COMMUNAL POOLS
It is now law throughout many regions of Spain, including the Canary Islands, that if a communal pool is exempt from the obligation to have a lifeguard (e.g. pools in non-tourist residential areas), then that pool must be protected by a lockable fence to ensure that it is not accessible by unaccompanied minors.
An addition to Gobierno de Canarias Decreto 212/2005 states that:-
- The protective barriers must be a minimum of 1.2m high and resist a horizontal force applied on the upper edge of support do not exist points in height between 20 and 70 cm above the ground or on the line of inclination of a ladder, not to be easily scaled for children. They may not have openings that can be crossed by a sphere of 10cm diameter.
- Access to the pool is made through the points provided for that purpose, which shall have practical elements with locking and blocking.
2. PRIVATE POOLS
- There is currently no law covering the protection of private pools in the Canary Islands.
- There is currently no EU wide law covering the protection of private pools.
- The only standard that is written is a French Normative NF P 90-306. It covers the manufacture and installation of pool protection. The basis of this is that any pool being used for anything other than purely private use must have a system that prevents children under 5 years old being able to enter the pool, either by accident or intentionally.
- The approved devices are purpose-designed fences, reinforced pool covers, alarms and pool shelters - all of which provide an effective layer of protection - the key to preventing a tragedy.
However, swimming pool regulations are changing rapidly in Spain, including the Canary Islands. The fact that the Canarian Government is now inspecting communal pools for compliance with Decreto 212/2005 (and has already imposed fines on some communities for non-compliance) suggests that any EU safety laws will follow the lead taken by France, where all pool owners must have an approved pool safety device. Non-compliance has penalties of up to €45,000.
There is discussion within the rest of the EU about the possibility of adopting the norm and some individual municipalities in Spain have their own local rules.
Under Spanish law, it is your responsibility to provide a safe, healthy pool area for both your family and for people who come into contact with your pool. If you rent your property out for holidays, pool safety is something you cannot afford to ignore. It begins the moment your guests come through the gate.
If the unthinkable did happen, a child loses his/her life, you as the owner of the property would be held liable. A full investigation would take place to establish the circumstances surrounding the child’s death and the percentage of liability you carry as the pool owner.
For more information on drowning prevention & limiting your liability, please contact Peace of Mind Pool Safety.
REMOVABLE POOL SAFETY FENCES FROM PEACE OF MIND POOL SAFETY
The peace of mind provided by a pool safety fence is well worth the cost – you cannot put a price on a child’s life.
Purpose designed pool safety fencing systems are available in Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Tenerife & Gran Canaria from Peace of Mind Pool Safety, based in Fuerteventura. They are the sole supplier in the Canaries for Guardian Pool Fence Systems, developed & manufactured in California, USA, the ‘health & safety’ capital of the world!
The fence & gate have been tested at the LNE laboratory in France & are AFNOR compliant. There is a lifetime manufacturer’s guarantee with the fence.
Every pool fence installation is customized, right down to your choice of height and colour. It is manufactured and installed to the specifications of your pool area and also includes the option of a Patented removable, self-closing, self-latching, key-locking gate. The Australian manufacturer of Magna Latch promotes the latch as "The World's Safest Gate Latch".
Peace of Mind Pool Safety work together with pool installers, garden landscapers and property management companies to ensure that all holiday home owners are aware of pool safety issues and of the benefits of installing a pool safety fence system.
These benefits include increased rental income, particularly during off-peak periods when families with pre-school children tend to holiday. As the fencing system is fully removable, it can be taken down, rolled up & stored conveniently when there are no kids around!
The company mission is that ‘the installation of a pool safety fence should go hand-in-hand with the installation of a swimming pool or a spa’.
The protection of children around water should NEVER be overlooked.
AESTHETICS
Unfortunately, many pools are not fenced, not because of expense, but because pool owners find fences unattractive. The necessity of swimming pool fencing doesn't mean that the attractiveness of your swimming pool will be hindered. If installed correctly, swimming pool fencing can actually enhance the way your swimming pool looks, as well as the beauty of your garden landscaping.
The removability of the fence also means that if there are no children around, it can be taken down, rolled up & conveniently stored.
For more pool safety information and tips on how to keep children safe, please visit www.canary-islands-pool-safety.com or email info@canary-islands-pool-safety.com