Helping to Prevent Accidental Backyard Drownings

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety commission an average of 250 children under the age of 5 drown each year in the United States in swimming pools. On top of this another 2,700 children are treated for serious injuries caused by near drowning incidents. Most of these incidents take place in residential (backyard) swimming pools.
In a matter of minutes a child can break away from a group and a swimming pool makes a very attractive target to wander off to. A common misconception is that should a child fall into the pool the sounds of splashing etc. would alert adults to the problem, in reality most backyard drowning are almost silent as a child simply slips under the water once in the pool.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety commission has several suggestions to help limit the chances of tragedy striking in your backyard pool due to an unattended child wandering into the pool area.
– All pools need to be completely fenced in by a fence which is at least 4 feet high
– Keep the pool covered when not in use
– Keep rescue equipment by the pool along with a phone and a list of emergency numbers
– If the pool borders with your home and is accessible directly from the home than all doors opening to the pool should be equipped with door alarm sensors.

Absolute Automation Inc. offers a line of products which are perfect for monitoring the area between a pool and home and alerting any nearby adults to a door opening or even just when a person (child) crosses a threshold. The most popular setup is to use the Dakota Alert BBA-2500 system to create a break beam alarm between the home and water, when a child walks through the beam a chime tone inside will activate to alert any adults in the area. The second advantage to this system is that the DCUT-2500 door switch sensors can be added. Simply place these door switches on any exterior doors which lead to the pool area. Now as soon as the door is opened the chime will alert people and if that somehow fails than when the child breaks the beam on his/her way to the water the chime will sound again as a backup alarm.

For more information please see:
Dakota Alert BBA-2500 – http://www.absoluteautomation.com/bba2500-dakota-alert-electric-beam-sensors-solar-powered/ –
And
Dakota Alert DCUT-2500 – http://www.absoluteautomation.com/dakota-alert-2500-ft-range-wireless-transmitter/
We want to hear from you! Have a relevant story or some other advice on this issue? Share your stories, thoughts, comment or suggestions with us below!