Before now, did you know that Mecklenburg County had a pool ordinance requiring a barrier around residential pools? New North Carolina law now requires a barrier for more types of pools, if you have a pool with more than two feet of water you may need a barrier.
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Drowning is one of the leading causes of childhood injury related deaths nationwide. Locally the Mecklenburg County Health Department, Carolinas Center for Injury Prevention and Charlotte Mecklenburg Safe Kids have joined forces to educate residents on the local ordinance requiring a minimum of safety to be addressed through the use of a pool barrier (fence) in an effort to protect area children from tragedy.
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Below you will find information and resources to assist homeowners in complying with the ordinance for area children and non-swimmer's safety, as well as information on other layers of protection that may be added if small children reside in the home to add to their protection.
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Layers of protection start with complying with the current residential pool requirement of a protective enclosure. Mecklenburg County Health Ordinance, Rules governing residential pools require that:
"Residential swimming pools shall be protected by a fence, wall, building, or other enclosure, or any combination thereof, which completely encloses the swimming pool area." View ordinance governing residential swimming pools.
Other layers of protection that can be added especially if the home itself has or is visited by small children include, planned supervision, an additional barrier between the house exit points and the pool, door alarms, pool alarms, pool covers, swimming lessons, and access to rescue devices.
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- In-ground swimming pools without complete four-sided isolation fencing are 60 percent more likely to be involved in drownings than those with four-sided isolation fencing.
- Drownings and near-drownings tend to occur on the weekend (40 percent) and between the months of May and August (62 percent).
- 69% of incidents occurred while one or both parents were responsible for supervision.
- 65% were in the pool owned by the child's family, 22% at a relatives, and 11% at a neighbors home.
- 77% of drowning victims had been seen 5 minutes or less before being missed.
- 46% of drowning victims were last seen in the house
Source: USA SAFE KIDS, CSPC
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- In North Carolina, unintentional injury is the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 1 and 44
- Of those injuries, from 2000-2003 Drowning was one of the top three causes of death for people 1-24 and in the top four for ages 25-44.
- During those years, there were 403 drowning related deaths and 19,847 drowning related injuries.
For additional injury prevention tips on this and other topics visit Carolinas Injury Prevention or Mecklenburg County Safe Kids
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