Proper Pool Safety: Protect Yourself From Personal Injury Lawsuits
Having a personal pool in your backyard is a great way to beat the summer heat, but it also increases your personal liability. If a friend or neighbor becomes injured while swimming in your pool, you could be facing a personal injury lawsuit to cover medical bills, lost income, and other damages.
Here are some simple things you can do to help reduce your liability while still enjoying your pool.
Build a Fence
The first and most important step to reducing your personal liability for private swimming pool injuries is to prevent them from happening in the first place. Your pool should be fully enclosed with a fence—preferably a fence that is not easy for children to climb over.
You might worry that a fence will ruin the aesthetic of an open pool. However, when you consider the possibility of accidental drowning, a fence is a small concession. As part of your fence system, include:
· Gates that self-close. A spring-loaded gate will automatically shut itself. This prevents the possibility of someone leaving the gate open, allowing a child to enter the pool enclosure unnoticed.
· Childproof latches. Put latches to gates on the inside of the fence near the top to prevent a young child from opening the gate without supervision.
· See-through panels. Privacy fences can be nice, but the safest fences are transparent. It's easier to notice and prevent problems if you can see the pool from the house or from other areas of the yard.
If you will not fence your pool, you should at least fully fence your yard. When company comes, always have someone outdoors watching the pool to keep children away or to supervise water activities.
Post Warning Signs
You can and should post signage detailing the risks of swimming in your pool. Be sure to post that swimmers swim at their own risk. You can also add simple safety rules that every swimmer should follow, such as no diving in shallow water or children under four wearing life jackets.
When you post the rules, it shows that swimming, literate adults know the risks of swimming in your private pool, assuming some of the responsibility for ensuing injuries.
You should note that posted signs will not completely get you off the hook. You still have a responsibility to make your pool as safe as possible. Stay on top of pool maintenance, and never allow anyone to swim under the influence of alcohol or when any part of the pool is malfunctioning.
Use a Pool Cover
Another excellent method of preventing accidental drowning is to invest in a complete pool cover. Many pool owners use a bubble cover that simply floats on top of the pool. However, these will not prevent accidental slips and falls into the pool. Use a complete cover that lashes to the side of the pool deck on all four sides, making a taut, impenetrable surface.
Learn Basic First Aid
In the case of an accident in the pool, drowning is not the only risk. Head injuries, scrapes, and even damaged limbs from pool drains and filters are all potential problems. Be sure that at least one person present at the pool is current in CPR and other basic first aid techniques.
Reduce Pool Appeal
All pool owners should acknowledge the appeal of their pool to neighboring children. Some lawsuits are based on the doctrine of attractive nuisance, meaning that the pool represents an object that is too appealing for children (or other people of limited capacity to assess risk) to avoid. Your job is to reduce the appeal of your pool to innocent onlookers.
Some of the above suggestions, such as covering your pool and installing a fence, are methods of reducing pool appeal. You should also:
· Clear toys out of the pool as soon as people are finished swimming. It's not uncommon for a child to fall in a pool while reaching for a ball.
· Keep floatation articles like tubes and mats locked away. Don't store them on the pool deck. Some children feel they will be safe if they use a poolside floating toy. However, these can slip out from under a child.
· Call your neighbors to warn them that you have an operating pool. Parents can teach their children not to enter neighboring pools and remain mindful of where their children are when playing outside.
As a pool owner, the burden of security is on your shoulders, and it is one that must be taken seriously.
Keep Adequate Insurance
In the event you do face a personal injury lawsuit, your home insurance should cover the cost—if your policy is high enough. When you install the pool, talk to your insurance agent about the appropriate amount of coverage to account for swimming accidents.
For more information on pool safety and owner liability, contact us at Clearfield & Associates.