SWIMMING POOL LIABILITY

Your swimming pool can offer fun and a welcome break from the desert heat. But your pool can be dangerous, too. You need to avoid tragedy—and liability—this season by keeping your pool safe.

Drowning leads to hundreds of deaths and many more injuries in California each year. Children under 10 accounted for many of these deaths and more than half of the injuries. Swimming pool accidents are tragic, but they are preventable if you take "reasonable precautions."

If you own or rent a home with a pool, you must carefully supervise swimmers, especially children.  Make sure you keep your pool equipment in good working condition.  And provide barriers to prevent unsupervised use of the pool. If you don't take such "reasonable" precautions, you may be sued for any deaths or injuries that result—even if the injured person didn't have permission to use your pool.
Supervision is vital. Watch your kids at all times—drowning can occur in a frighteningly short time. It's important to keep adults in line too. Don't allow your guests to run near the pool, make unsafe dives, or swim while intoxicated. Make sure no one, young or old, swims alone.

Maintaining your pool is also important. Uneven paving or unusually slippery surfaces, broken lifesaving equipment, damaged ladders and slides, or broken or ineffective fences or pool covers can all be dangerous. Contaminated water can lead to illness—make sure you are using the right amount of chemicals, and that you keep your pool clean. It's particularly important to take children on regular bathroom breaks and check diapers regularly.

Barriers such as fences and safety covers play an important role in preventing accidental drowning, especially in young children. Most children who drowned were last seen in the house, patio, or yard before finding their way into the pool. Effective barriers or alarms go a long way toward preventing these injuries and deaths. Because barriers are so helpful, the California Health & Safety Code requires that newly-built or remodeled private pools have certain safety features, such as a fences, door or pool alarms, or safety pool covers.

These are good guideline to what "reasonable" precautions may mean. Adding them can keep your family, guests and neighbors safe, and protect you from costly lawsuits.