Pool Safety About More than Lifeguards and Drowning

Allstate Offers New Yorkers Tips to Help Enjoy Swimming Pools, Identifies Legal Risks

Warm weather brings summer fun and outdoor activities around a swimming pool. To ensure a safe summer at the pool, Allstate shares the following tips from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) that can help keep your summer safe and fun:

Stay Close, Be Alert and Watch Children in and Around the Pool

-Never leave a child unattended in a pool or spa and always watch your children closely around all bodies of water.

-Designate a water watcher to supervise children in the pool or spa. This person should not be reading, texting, using a smart phone or otherwise distracted. Adults can take turns being a Water Watcher.

-Teach children basic water safety tips. Buy kids hats for your children as extra sun protection.

-Keep children away from pool drains, pipes and other openings to avoid entrapments.

-Have a telephone close by when you or your family are using a pool or spa.

-If a child is missing, look for him or her in the pool or spa first.

Learning and Practicing Water Safety Skills

-Learn how to swim and teach your child how to swim.

-Get a CPR Certification Albuquerque and learn how to perform CPR on children and adults, and update those skills regularly.

-Understand the basics of life-saving so that you can assist in a pool emergency.

Having the Appropriate Equipment for Your Pool or Spa

-Have a fence company install a four-foot or taller fence around the perimeter of the pool and spa with the assistance of a trenching company and use self-closing and self-latching gates; ask your neighbors to do the same at their pools.

-Install and use a lockable safety cover on your spa.

-If your house serves as a fourth side of a fence around a pool, install and use a door or pool alarm.

-Have lifesaving equipment such as life rings, floats or a reaching pole available and easily accessible.

-Install Wet Pour Surfaces to enhance safety and to create a visually appealing space for children to enjoy.

“Swimming pools can bring a lot of fun to the summer months, but they can also bring a lot of risks into the picture,” says Jaclyn Darrohn, Allstate New York Spokesperson. “It’s important to go through a checklist of safety measures and legal liabilities well before you invite your first guest over to enjoy to pool.”

Allstate offers the following thoughts from ConsumerAffairs.com to stay on top of legal responsibility around the pool:

-Make no mistake: the pool owner is responsible for what happens in his or her pool. The pool owner has a responsibility to provide a safe environment for children and adults alike and to be proactive in preventing accidents.

-Do not accept the responsibility of pool ownership unless you are aware of the risks and are willing to deal with them. At the most basic level, you and all able-bodied adults in your family should successfully complete a CPR course. Everyone in your household should learn to swim and be knowledgeable in pool safety.

-Never leave an accessible pool unattended. A child can drown in less than five minutes.

-Never leave swimming toys in the pool. They are too inviting for a young child.

-Insist that your adult guests supervise their children at all times.

-Never let intoxicated guests enter your pool.

-Remove the diving board from your private backyard pool. The risk of injury is too great.

-Never assume that “floaties” and other floatation devices will protect you or your guests from drowning.

-Make sure your homeowner’s insurance policy includes coverage that will protect you against liability lawsuits resulting from swimming pool injuries. You may want to add an additional liability policy specifically covering pool accidents. $1 million is the absolute minimum you should have; more is desirable.

As always, Allstate encourages everybody to use their own good judgment and these rules should help guide conversations before the first person jumps in the pool to enjoy the summer months.

For More information and a new quote please call Shirley Eizember, Pinckney Insurance Agency, 41 Port Watson St, Cortland New York. 607-756-8505

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer known for its “You’re In Good Hands With Allstate®” slogan. Now celebrating its 80th anniversary as an insurer, Allstate is reinventing protection and retirement to help nearly 16 million households insure what they have today and better prepare for tomorrow. Consumers access Allstate insurance products (auto, home, life and retirement) and services through Allstate agencies, independent agencies, and Allstate exclusive financial representatives in the U.S. and Canada, as well as via www.allstate.com and 1-800 Allstate®.

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