Drowning is the most common cause of preventable death for children under the age of six. It is for this reason that many local and state governments now mandate that swimming pools or spas on private residential properties provide safety barriers to restrict access to those pools.
In almost all cases, it is the responsibility of the home owner to install the safety barrier. These laws apply to all home owners who own a pool or spa regardless whether they have small children or not. Pool safety fences play a major part in preventing drowning in backyard pools. In cases where children who drowned did gain access to a pool with a pool fence, the majority did so through faulty gates or gates that were propped open.
Remember that even when safety barriers are provided, they are no substitute for adult supervision of young children who are playing near or in swimming pools and spas. Swimming pool that now require safety barriers include in-ground and above-ground pools, hot tubs, saps, and Jacuzzi.
Over the last decade, many communities have passed laws requiring the fencing of private and public pools. In fact, much of the evidence that pool fencing reduces the risk of drowning among children comes from studies examining before and after rates of drowning for fenced and unfenced pools. Even after these pioneering studies had been done, the favorable attitude toward pool fencing did not necessarily translate into actual changes in pool fencing.
While there is no federal law currently in place in the United States regarding pool fences, several states have enacted their own. Florida, California, and Arizona currently have state-wide pool fence laws and many counties have pool fence laws where no state laws exist. In addition, the Association of Pool and Spa Professionals has developed a barrier code for residential swimming pools that has been approved by the American National Standards Institute.
