Pool Safety Rules

Teaching safety, whether you belong to a local swim club or have a pool in your own backyard, is a year round priority. Begin teaching water safety as early as possible; and be patient and persistent. You will no doubt recite the safety rules to children many times before they sink in. 

                                                      Please Follow these important pool side safety rules 

• Always, always, always supervise your child. Never leave an infant, toddler or preschooler alone while in or
   near a pool. Some parents who know this rule forget it when the doorbell or telephone rings- this is precisely the
   moment that many child drownings occur. Remember that it takes less than 30 seconds for a child to drown.

• Keep a telephone and important phone numbers at the pool side
 
• When your pool is not in use, put toys and flotation devices away, so they will not attract young children to the 
   water. Keep the pool grounds free of toys, tricycles, wagons and debris when not being used- they can also entice
   young children into the area.
 
• Keep the pool grounds well lighted at night.
 
• Always close and latch the gate when coming and going onto the pool grounds. Never, never, never prop the gate 
   open!

• Keep the essential rescue items near the pool at all times (i.e. life preserver, buoy and shepherd's hook).

• Take a CPR course and stay up-to-date on rescue techniques so you will always be prepared to save a young life.

• Never let your child swim alone, even when they are older.

• Don't allow running on the pool grounds.

• Restrict diving to the diving board and only into the deep end of the pool. At least eight feet of water is necessary 
   for safe diving.

• Never allow diving into aboveground pools.

• Don't allow roughhousing (i.e. dunking, pushing or wrestling) on the pool grounds.

Only you can prevent a drowning. Watch your child closely at all times! Make sure doors leading to the pool area are closed and locked. Young children can slip away and into the pool in less than one minute. 

                                             Never allow swimming in rainy weather or in thunderstorms.

The National Lightning Safety Institute recommends the following swimming pool safety procedures:

• Designate a responsible person as the weather safety lookout. That person should keep an eye on the weather. 
  Use a "weather radio" or the Weather Channel or other TV program to obtain good localized advanced weather 
   information.

• When thunder and/or lightning are first noticed, use the Flash-To-Bang (F-B) method to determine its’ rough 
   distance and speed. This technique measures the time from seeing lightning to hearing associated thunder. For 
   each five seconds from F-B, lightning is one mile away. Thus, a F-B of 10 = 2 miles; 15 = 3 miles; 20 = 4 miles; 
   etc. At a F-B count of thirty, the pool should be evacuated. People should be directed to safe shelter nearby.

• Pool activities should remain suspended until thirty minutes after the last thunder is heard.
 
The distance from Strike A to Strike B to Strike C can be some 5-8 miles away. And it can strike much farther away. Why take a chance with lightning? 

                                                                              Teach this safety slogan: 
                                    "If you can see it, flee it; if you can hear it, clear it."