Swimming Pools
April 30, 2007
If you have been reading my blogs and newsletters - firstly a big “thank you” - and you may have followed my news about swimming pool safety laws and standards.
It seems that these, like no smoking laws and dog poo regulations, are doomed to be another big non-event in France. Pools worry me, I get very nervous with young children playing around water. I also worry about children playing with guns or climbing scaffolding, but fortunately there are strict rules about these things which are enforced.
Pools are dangerous and, when laws came into France three years ago I did a lot of campaigning for awareness through my sites and newsletters
I am visiting a lot of properties now as a Realtor, I very rarely find a pool which complies with the safety standards. In fact these standards are very weak, a simple battery operated alarm unit costing a few euro is all that is needed - some owners have joked about not having batteries in them because they make a noise.
I know having a pool seems a great idea - but is there anyone else who thinks, like I do, that they are greatly over-rated, expensive, dangerous, unhealthy and a waste of space - I keep threatening to fill ours up and grow tomatoes.
Pools, like yachts, planes and wives are more fun when they belong to and are paid for by someone else perhaps.
Meanwhile I have been cleaning and preparing ours for the few days my kids will be lounging around it this summer.
Comment by Andrew Hodges
I appreciate that there are some pools that are inherently dangerous especially where the rental property that they are associated with is advertised as suitable for children. It’s clear that care and attention does need to be given. But who by? The pool owners or the parents? It seems to me that too many people are always looking for someone to blame these days rather than themselves. Swimming pools have been around for centuries. What did we do before electronics and other clever gadgets?
Might I suggest that in the past we focused more of our attention on our children and that if we didn’t, then we took responsibility for the consequences of our own lack of care.
[By the way, where DID you get the idea that a pool alarm just costs a few euros?]
Comment by Tony
Andrew,
Thank you for commenting - all water is inherently dangerous and I totally agree with you that parents must be careful and pay attention.
Accidents do happen too frequently, it only takes a few seconds for a child to drown. It is not just when being supervised, children are curious and will wander off, which is why I believe a correct fence and gate is the only secure system.
Swimming pools in holiday homes and as a common feature in private gardens are phenomena of only the last fifty years - they have always been dangerous.
Pool alarms are a useful back-up security system - prices are falling (thank goodness) and I have seen them in supermarkets for under 300 euro hopefully they will be even cheaper this year.
Comment by Jennifer
Hi Tony
We adore our pool. We use it every day from April to October. Last year our last swim (it’s heated) was on 10th November! It’s fabulous exercise, great fun and so cooling when the weather gets very hot. Before we had the main pool, we had a large inflatable one and loved to submerge into its cooling water on our first year in the Dordogne summer heat.
Some of our friends have a lake and I would be terrified if I was there with my grandchildren. There are weeds to entagle people, sloping and slippery sides that would make climbing out difficult and the sheer size of the things! They seem free to waiver any form of saftey protection even though there is a right of way across their land.
There must be many hundreds of private and public lakes in this region.
Our local swimming lake is also accessible to all even though they say that no-one is allowed to swim outside certain ates and unless there is a guard on duty.
There are some rules about pools that seem to ignore similar risks from lakes.
A pool can be fenced, alarmed, covered and in plain view. I never take it’s potential dangers for granted, and with fingers crossed and many protections, we hope we all safely enjoy the pool for many years to come.
Alarms do seem the cheaper of the requirement options - for alarm only though. If you’re not there, who responds? That’s another legal minefield surely?
Comment by Tony
Hi Jennifer,
Yes, pools are great fun for many people - ours certainly helped my Mother last year after a hip operation.
All water is dangerous, rivers and lakes are often wild and unpredictable, but like cliffs, rocks and thousands of natural hazards we have always lived with these - pools, like cars and power-tools are things we have created for our convenience and we should be able to exercise an element of control to protect ourselves.
As the domestic pool security regulations are not checked, I would bet that in the event of any accident, the insurance company certainly is not going to pay out if there is any deficiency in the standards which are now applied by law.