NEWS: Portable backyard pools dangerous to young children

Even for a portable pool or smaller sized pool, you might want to consider getting a pool alarm for safety. Get help choosing a pool alarm here.

A new article from the Springfield News-Sun.com, published on July 6, 2011.

Article Highlights:

-"A study in the June issue of Pediatrics confirms that these types of pools are dangerous: every five days in the summer months, an American child drowns in a portable pool."

-"Smith is concerned that the most effective devices, like safety fences, can cost more than the portable pools themselves. His Center for Injury Research and Policy has chided manufacturers for not producing the same safety devices for portable pools that are widely available for in-ground pools."

-"Kathleen Reilly leads the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s pool safety campaign. She says that the federal regulatory agency doesn’t require portable pools to come with any safety devices."

-"“The ones about three feet high once you inflate them, those are the ones that are really dangerous,” Reilly said. She doesn’t see regulation of portable pools being proposed any time soon."

-"“Regardless of where it is — in-ground, above ground, in the lake, parents need to be vigilant about keeping an eye on their kids,” he said. “You’re not knowingly not paying attention, but you need to consciously keep an eye on the kids. It’s so easy to be distracted by the telephone, TV, conversations, things that seem so innocent. It just takes a moment for something bad to happen."

-"According to the study in Pediatrics, two easy measures may have prevented the largest percentage of drownings: pool ladders that can be removed or covered, and shutting and locking all doors to the outside."

-"Between 2001 and 2009, 209 children drowned in portable pools in the U.S., researchers found. Another 35 children nearly drowned during that period but survived. The study looked only at children under 12 years old, and found that drownings peaked at age 2. About 90 percent of the incidents happened to kids under 5 years old."

Read the complete article here.