The good weather and the heat of the next few days in Quebec will perhaps make you want to take out your bathing suits and jump into the water, hence the importance of remembering to be careful around the pool!
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Swimming pools account for 15% of drownings each year, including seven fatal and 28 non-fatal out of a total of 35, according to Lifesaving Society data.
To avoid drowning, properly educating your children about the danger around swimming pools is essential.
“We must take the time to educate our children, you must not be near water or want to go swimming without your parents being present. The majority of drownings in children and even the elderly, they were alone. No one to be able to watch them and no one to pull them out of the water,” said Lifesaving Society director Raynald Hawkins.
For Mr. Hawkins, the solution to avoid drowning would be to make swimming pools completely inaccessible.
“Making it all inaccessible is the goal we have in the regulations,” he added.
How can we properly prepare our swimming pools in a safe manner?
In Quebec, regulations on the safety of residential swimming pools must be respected.
Around the swimming pool, a fence with a minimum height of 1.2 m with a self-closing safety gate must be installed.
The enclosure must not be designed in such a way that it can be easily climbed over, and any fixed structure or equipment that could allow a child to reach the pool must be installed more than one meter from the wall of the pool.
Owners are responsible for properly securing their pools, otherwise they could be fined $500.