Portable kiddie Pools Drowning Dangers

Forums: Parenting, Childcare, Safety, Drowning, Portable Pools
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I've recently been hearing about the dangers of portable pools - it seems like this something in all the news/newspaper reports.

"Portable pools pose surprising drowning dangers"

Warm summer weather means pool time for children and adults. And while most parents are aware of the potential dangers of in-ground swimming pools, they may not be aware of the dangers posed by portable pools, according to a new study in the journal Pediatrics.

Between 2001 and 2009 a total of 244 portable pool submersion incidents were reported for children younger than age 12. Of those events, 86% – 209 cases — were fatal. The majority of incidents – 94% – involved kids younger than age 5.

Is this really surprising? Who in their right mind leaves a child under 5 alone while using one of these pools? Is it any different than leaving them alone in a bathtub?

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@Linkat,

'Zactly!

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@ragnel,

There's ragnel!

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@Linkat,

It's surprising only to a moron.

The problem isn't the kiddie pool, it's the lazy assed, negligent parent.

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@Linkat,

I doubt, in most cases, if it was an issue of leaving the kid alone while using the pool.
Most likely the incidents occured when the child went near the pool on their own.
Most parents understand how easy it is for a child in that age group to get into trouble while a parent is distracted with household duties.
These above ground pools are rarely fenced like an inground pool.
People install cheap walmart pools every summer without any safety whatsoever.

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@wayne,

I thought they were referring to the portable plastic wading pools. All we do when not in use is empty it - which again is common sense.

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@Linkat,

I thought they might be meaning those above ground types that you buy at places like walmart, the ones about 3 feet deep, 12' diameter
Little kids go out and try to retreive a toy floating in the pool, fall in, while the parent is folding laundry or something.

There are a lot of those pools around every summer, not fenced or anything.

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@wayne,

Could be - I know they were making reference that a child can drown in a few inches of water - why I took it being those that are like wading pools.

I could see those - but I did think that if it were so high that even those upground pools needed to have a fence around them - at least in most places.

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@Linkat,

Right. I forget the exact number and I no longer have my thick books of UBC or local codes to refer to and am too lazy to look it up, so don't take my word for it - the number was something like over 20" needing a fence of certain description with appropriate lathing gate. Well, that was back when I designed raised decorative reflecting ponds or somesuch, and rules change. In some places one could substitute a door opening alarm system.

(All this reminds me of that video of a woman talking on her cell phone in a mall walking into and falling into such a raised pond.)

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@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

Is it any different than leaving them alone in a bathtub?

Depends on the water depth.

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@Linkat,

Since you started this thread, I've paid a little more attention to those pools around here.
They're all over the place, no fences, just sitting in the backyard.
I would think there would be ordinances on that, maybe code enforcment just isn't paying attention to them.
I wonder if the figures in the report aren't lumped together, a 5 year old should be able to prevent his/her drowning in one of the small wading pools.
That's why I thought they might mean the larger type.

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Portable kiddie Pools Drowning Dangers

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