Why is it important to fence home swimming pools?
Backyard swimming pools are a major drowning hazard for children, particularly kids under age 5. Toddlers are naturally attracted to water, but they lack a sense of danger and drownings happen quickly and silently. Nearly all toddler drownings in backyard pools happen when adults are not aware the child was near the pool. Often the child gets to the pool from inside the house, through a door leading directly to the pool area. Proper fencing and childproof gates can prevent these tragedies. Research shows that fencing could prevent at least 7 out of 10 drownings and near-drownings among children in backyard swimming pools. Yet, in a 10-year review of drowning in Canada, the Canadian Red Cross found that only 4 percent of homes where a toddler drowned in a backyard pool had the right kind of fence and gate. In Quebec where toddler drownings in home swimming pools are twice as common compared to the Canadian national average many people have above-ground pools with a patio or deck joining