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Putting in a pool at home is always an exciting time for the entire family, but did you know that drowning is the biggest cause of accidental death for young children?

The Australian government released the 2015 accidental drowning report and drowning was ranked 57th in the causes of premature death in Australia and 3rd in the leading causes of death for 1–14 year olds. Most occurred in private backyard swimming pools.

You can reduce the risk of accidents happening by adequately fencing your pool and spa and ensuring that young children are supervised at all times.

One of the most commonly forgotten about aspects of putting in a pool is the temporary fencing needed during the construction stage. Even if your ‘in-progress’ pool doesn’t have water in it yet – it still poses a huge risk to your children and yourself. Temporary pool fencing panels are designed specifically to cater for pool safety during pool installation and construction until a time when you can have a permanent fixture in place.

Here are four reasons why your pool or spa must have fencing:

Fencing will create a barrier between your children and the pool

When considering the safety of your children, it isn’t only drowning that is a preventable tragedy. There is also the risk of your children exploring a construction site and slipping around the surface of the pool and getting injured. A fence will reduce the risk of injury and ensure that children only have access to the pool when an adult is available to supervise.

The safety of animals

It is extremely important to consider the safety of your pets, especially if they spend a lot of time in your backyard, where the pool and construction site is located. Your pet may not be as enthusiastic about going for a swim as you are, however pets are extremely curious and wandering and exploring could lead to your pet falling in.

Enhances the overall safety and aesthetics of your house

Pool and Spa fencing will not only provide a safe barrier for pets and children, it will also provide an overall barrier ensuring that there are no accidents when grandparents or play dates are over.

Choosing the right pool fencing can be a hard task as there are many different options from aluminium to steel, to glass and more! To really tie the design into the rest of your home consider what materials are available, what colours and the maintenance required.

It is Australian law

Pool and spa barriers are required by legislation for any swimming pool or spa in excess of 300mm in depth and must be maintained for the life of the pool or spa.

But did you know that pool and spa barriers are also required whilst in the construction period?

Fencing must be constructed in such a way to make sure that:

  • The fence is an effective barrier to young children
  • It is permanent
  • Young children can’t crawl under or climb over it by using foot and hand holds
  • It is at least 1.2 metres high
  • Any boundary fences used as part of the child-safety barrier are at least 1.8 metres high on the side that faces the pool, with a 900 millimetres non-climbable zone at the top inside of the fence, a boundary barrier may be climbable on the neighbour’s side

With regards to temporary fencing you want to look for fencing which is hot dip galvanised and complies with Australian Standard A.S. 1962 when permanently fixed. When you have a young family it’s so important to stick to these rules and the law to make sure you keep your family as safe as possible. With winter here many people are considering putting in a pool for the 2016-17 summer, it’s a good time to consider these sometimes forgotten aspects.

Do you have a pool? Are you happy with your type of fencing? Let us know in the comments below!

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  • Fencing and safety of your child is paramount around swimming pools.

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  • It is also absolute peace of mind for you to fence your pool. We did all the right things legally and according to the laws, but I still felt nervous and uncomfortable with my toddler. As a result, I no longer enjoyed the pool like I had pre-baby and when we moved house, I was glad to not to have to worry anymore.

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  • Don’t have a pool, but do have a lake at the bottom of my property which I am by council ruling not allowed to fence – this is just as dangerous if not more dangerous to young children in the area.
    However I was informed by this same council that if I wanted to put a pool into my back yard, I would have to fence it!
    Where is their logic?

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  • A friend of mine was very upset a few years back as her old dog had gone missing. She was stressed out as the dog was blind and very deaf. She started door knocking and found that the dog had some how wandered two houses down and into the back yard and then had fallen in the pool and drowned. Everyone was very upset and i didnt want to add to the stress but I wanted to know how on earth the dog had managed to get to the pool in the first place. Imagine if that had been a child.

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  • The majority of Pool fences now are glass and they actually dont look too bad. Just a lot of glass cleaning!!


    • I hope it is specially designed glass with least double thickness laminated glass, and a stray ball can’t crack or shatter it. I never want to witness that again.
      The original pool fences design are tubular upright rails and the only horizontal ones are at the bottom to attach the uprights too and one almost at the top of it to strengthen the top. The locks on the gates are very good. You have to be tall enough and strong enough to open them. Most are self-closing. So far I have never heard of a small child succeed in climbing it using their hands & feet and managing to open the gate or climb over the top. Some kids are brave and stubborn enough to try anything. Make sure everybody understands not to enter the pool while it is being cleaned or filtered or to touch the mechanism.

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  • I don’t have a pool but these are good tips to circulate. I would have thought that almost everyone would know they need a fence with a pool but perhaps some of the dimensions may not be as widely known.

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  • Yes we have a pool and we have great fencing. The council wouldn’t sign off on our pool until they assessed the fencing

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  • I didn’t know that about construction, but we’ve always been careful to keep our pool secured.

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  • I don’t have a swimming pool but I agree that all these regulations are extremely important. For the safety of kids and pets!

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  • A family member has an excellent glass barrier for his pool which protects his child.

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  • We do not have a pool as we live close to the beach. Pool safety is so important.

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