(of course that is only my opinion!!)

Here goes. In Regina, there is a bylaw that if you have a swimming pool (and we do) you have to have a locked gate and a six foot unclimbable fence. In Vancouver and in England there is no such rule.

Now, why I think this is stupid is because surely if you have a child that is young enough that it might not recognize the danger of a pool, isn't it YOUR responsibility to look out for your child - and not mine? Also, we have lakes in Regina. Does anyone go around building six foot unclimbable fences around them?

Even more stupid is that if you lived backing on to Lakewood Lake or Lakeridge Lake - they don't have fences, but if you also had a pool in your back yard you would have to have the unclimbable fence. Presumably based on the premise that if a child was going to drown it would choose to throw itself into your pool, rather than falling into the lake.

Apparently in England you can have a pool in your front garden if you wish.

I wonder what others think and if they have this "nanny" rule in their community.

Personally I think it makes a lot of sense, and I suspect it was introduced after harsh experience made it necessary. Most drownings of children 1-4 years of age occur in residential swimming pools. The facts surrounding the drownings of young children in residential pools can send a chill down any parent’s spine:

Most children who drowned in pools were last seen in the home.
Most young children who drowned in pools had been out of sight for less than five minutes.
The majority of children who drowned in pools were in the care of one or both parents at the time.
If you have a pool at home, be sure it is as safe as possible. Never, ever, leave a child unsupervised in or near a pool.

In 1995 just under 600 kids aged 0-4 drowned in the US alone, many in pools.


The difference between a pool and a lake or river is a pool has vertical sides. If a kid clambers in when the ladder has been removed, its very hard for them to clamber out again, unlike a river or lake that usually has shallow edges. I see too many of those big "temporary" inflatable canadian tire type pools without a fence, noone seems to realise that that law applies to those too, they arent paddling pools.

A secondary issue is to stop your ass getting sued if neighbourhood kids without permission end up climbing into your unfenced pool and drowning. Putting a fence up shows due dilligence on your behalf. The law was probably introduced when inground pools were the norm, to stop people walking in by accident, and then rather than decide how far out of the ground was OK to be unfenced it was just left to apply to all pools. If it stops even one kid drowning, then I'm in favour of it.


http://www.med.usf.edu/CLASS/JulieJ/Prevention.htm

We had that in Ontario, I went to the council and got the permit. They came out and inspected our fence and gate. Only did this for the legal part that Ian pointed out below. Didn't want any of the neighbours kids falling in when we where not around and ending up in court about it.

I also know that it's the same in Australia (Brisbane), the wife's sister lives out there. They initially removed their pool when the rule came out. It was partly due to the new law and partly that their kids had grown up and didn't use the pool. Since then though they have had a new one put in complete with 6 foot steel fence and safety gates. They can't keep the grand kids out.

Here is some info about how sucessfull the legislation in Queensland Australia has been

http://www.poolfencing.qld.gov.au/council/content7.html

It basically cut the drowning rate from 12 kids a year in pools to 8 (In queensland alone), and of those that still drowned the majority were due to poor fencing or open gates. Only in 4% of the drownings was it unclear how the kid got in there. Even if legislation doesnt require it, its worth getting a good fence.

I can see 6 pools from my window. It's far from clear what the law is here. The one in-ground pool is fenced-in, as is one of the above-grounds (that could be because it's got a deck round it). All the above-ground pools have gates and fences at the top of the stairs, though. That would seem to me to be adequate. There's no way a kid could accidentally fall into one of those things. I'd have a job climbing in over the side.

You dont have kids do you ? Its quite amazing what a toddler can do when the mood takes them. We evolved from monkeys..and it shows!

Having been an evolved monkey child once myself , I would be interested to know what the heck an 'Unclimable' fence is comprised of?

Electrified with Razor wire? - No, too messy

Teflon coated? - No, too expensive

Inflatable, with turrets? - No, too wobbly

Point a child at a fence and tell them it's 'Unclimable'. Then stand back and be taught a lesson.

Actually the law it is not so much about safeguarding the homeowner's children but rather the fence is required to keep out intruders. This is why the fence has to be unclimbable.

Yes, I do. I take your point about their simian qualities but I still think they'd have to be pretty determined. My point was really out it being highly unlikely that a kid could accidentally fall into an above-ground pool.

And my point is that its the drowning thats accidental, not the getting into the pool. Kids like pools and swiming, and the fence is there to protect them from themselves as much as anything else.

Before moving to Canada I was a caretaker for a school that had an outside swimming pool that was secured by a nice high brick wall. We often used to have youngsters climb over the wall at night to use the pool and as a gesture of their appreciation do a little damage too. I always felt that one way of stopping them was to have barbed wire at the top but I was told that it wasn't now lawful to do such a thing because of the harm that it might cause anyone who just happened to be climbing over the wall!

Granted but it could be argued that a fence is easier to climb than a smooth-sided pool. The only real way to make a pool safe is to take the water out.

This reminds of when I went on holiday to Indonesia some years back with an 18-month old. The hotel provided us with a cot. Nice thing, made out of bamboo. The bars were horizontal

Its not the climbing that is causing the deaths, its the pool.

Maybe toddler psycholgy comes into it, they see just a pool and that looks do-able, so off they go. They see a fence, and dont even think about the pool, or more likely it slows them down enough that someone spots them before any harm is done? Who knows. All I know is that the stats seem to back up the point that this actually does make a difference. I dont really care why it works if its saving lives.

Are you getting much work done today? I'm not

Me neither...but hey, its friday. mondays my busy day.