As summer continues and more and more families hit the pool to cool down, Boss Solar would like to remind everyone to check and maintain their pool fences in order to help prevent further drowning’s this summer.
In Australia, drowning is one of the leading causes of death in children under five years of age. According to statistics from the Royal Life Saving Drowning Report, twenty-six Australian children aged between 0 and 4 years drowned between 2014 and 2015. This is an astounding 30% increase from 2013 to 2015.
Where do most of these childhood drowning’s occur? Well, they actually happen in our very own backyards. The Royal Life Saving Drowning Report also found that over half of all toddler drowning incidents occurred in backyard pools, where 81 percent of drowning’s occur when children fall into the water.
Olympic swimmer, Matt Welsh states that, “children drown quickly and silently. Along with a compliant pool barrier, it is important that children are always actively supervised by an adult when around water to help keep them safe. For toddlers, this means an adult being within an arm’s reach at all times.”
In an article by Kidsafe Victoria, evidence was given to suggest that faulty or non-compliant pool fences were suggested to cause a large number of drowning deaths in Australian pools.
Therefore, Boss would like to strongly suggest to all pool owners to thoroughly check their fences and surroundings before their child does. Life Saving Victoria offers a free online assessment to for home pool safety which you can access here.
If you’re unsure whether or not your pool complies with the State Governments regulations on pool standards, check out this easy to follow list.