According to the World Health Organization (WHO), drowning is one of the leading causes of unintentional injury death worldwide. More specifically in France, during the summer of 2024, the number of drownings increased by 41% compared to 2023, with a significant proportion involving children and private swimming pools. Do you have a young child and a swimming pool at home? We'll explain the various protective devices available to you, to ensure optimum safety.
The swimming pool, a place of relaxation and pleasure, can unfortunately become the scene of tragedies, as we are reminded every year by press articles and official statistics. Whether the pool is in-ground or above-ground, and despite existing safety devices (barriers, covers, alarms, etc.), many accidents happen every year, and young children under the age of 6 are unfortunately particularly hard hit.
The overriding rule remains constant vigilance by adults. Unfortunately, this vigilance is not infallible, so how can you effectively protect your child from the risk of drowning?
From learning to swim to pool safety features and additional personal protective equipment such as anti-drowning T-shirts, we tell you more below.
Learning to swim is essential
To protect your child, in addition to constant vigilance by adults, what could be better than ensuring that he or she can save himself or herself?
However, knowing how to swim is not an innate skill for your child, far from it. It's even more difficult when children are very young (under 3), as learning fine motor skills is a very long process. Before they can walk, babies and toddlers crawl, do 4-legged movements, stand up, fall down, get up again, try a few steps, fall down again... Moving independently in water is just as difficult, if not more so.
Fortunately, there are options for teaching children to swim from an early age! Whether through sports clubs (in France, those of the Fédération Française de Natation), baby swimming associations or professional networks, your child can learn to be at ease in the water and then the essential life-saving skills through programmes like Auto-Rescue.
It's essential to teach children to swim
The only downside: what should you do if your child has not yet learned to save himself or becomes unconscious?
Protecting your pool: a legal obligation in some countries, a simple recommendation in others
Without substituting for the need for younger children to learn to swim, fitting a swimming pool with safety equipment is an additional way of ensuring protection against drowning. Depending on the country, this may be compulsory or simply recommended. For example:
- France: it is compulsory to fit regulatory safety equipment to all or part of an in-ground pool, but this does not apply to above-ground, inflatable or demountable pools. Failure to install an approved safety device could result in a fine of €45,000.
- Germany: the owner must do everything in his power to protect the pool, while keeping the child under close supervision. Penalties may be claimed in the event of an accident.
- Spain: strict regulation regarding water quality but no safety equipment required. For residences with more than 30 homes or apartments, a swimming pool supervisor shall be in place.
- United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, ...: nothing compulsory regarding pool protection equipment.
We recommend that you consult the relevant authorities in your country.
There are 4 main types of pool protection equipment: barrier, safety cover, alarm or shelter.
The barrier: to prevent access to the pool perimeter
Barriers (or fences) physically delimit the perimeter of the pool and should prevent a child from entering unsupervised.
Image: swimming pool barrier
The minimum height is 1.1 metres, so that children under the age of 5 cannot climb over it. Logically, the entire pool should be fenced off, leaving no free passageways. The barriers must also be sufficiently far from the edge of the pool (at least 1 metre) to prevent children from falling straight into the water if they step over them.
They must also have a lock that is strong enough to prevent children from opening it by themselves.
In France, approved barriers must comply with Afnor standard NF90-306.
Safety cover or shelter: to prevent direct access to the water
Unlike barriers, safety covers and shelters are protective devices that directly cover the surface of the water. In addition to their safety objective, these devices prevent leaves and other undesirable elements from entering the water, and limit evaporation and the drop in temperature, making maintenance easier.
Image: pool safety covers
There are several types of safety cover, such as roller shutters, net covers, bar covers and so on. The important thing is that the safety cover cannot be removed by a child and that it is strong and rigid enough (or taut enough) to withstand being stepped on by an adult without causing injury. It must also be impossible for a child to go underneath when the equipment is in place.
Image: pool shelter
Pool shelters are structures that must be able to cover the entire surface of your pool. They take up more space and are more expensive than safety covers, but they provide a better seal against the elements and various types of pollution. If they are high enough, they can also transform your pool into an indoor pool (or almost)! The structure of the shelter must be strong enough to withstand major external disturbances such as strong wind or snow.
In France, Afnor standards to comply with are NF90-308 for safety covers and NF90-309 for shelters.
The pool alarm: to warn you that someone has gone in the water
Swimming pool alarms emit an audible signal (and sometimes a visual one too) to warn of unwanted entry into the water.
Image: pool alarm
They must be active at all times of the day and night, except when swimming. Different technologies are available (infrared, immersion, etc.). It must not be possible for the child to activate or deactivate the alarm alone.
Alarms are generally less expensive than barriers, safety covers and shelters. But unlike these other methods, an alarm does not prevent access to the pool! Instead of being a physical obstacle, you need to rely on adults to react quickly if the alarm is triggered.
In France, approved alarms must comply with Afnor standard NF90-307.
And don't forget that there are other additional devices for your pool that are also suitable for above-ground pools: ladders, ramps, poles, etc.
Unfortunately, despite their occasionally high price, swimming pool safety equipment is not infallible. Gates can be left open by mistake or incorrectly locked; covers and shelters can be left open because you want the sun to warm up the water during the summer; alarms do not provide direct protection and require quick adult intervention or can even be triggered by mistake...
To increase the level of safety, in addition to the vigilance of adults, teach children to swim and protect the pool: equip the child directly with a suitable safety device.
The anti-drowning T-shirt, an effective and reliable additional protection for children who can't swim
When you think of equipping your child with a suitable safety device, you might be thinking of flotation jackets, buoys or armbands? Well, you've got the wrong idea!
These accessories can help with floatability when learning to swim, but always with an adult within arm's reach. They are ineffective in the event of an accidental fall and are impractical to carry out of the water. Imagine a child playing near the edge of a swimming pool with a lifebuoy around his waist. If the child were to suddenly fall into the water, the buoy could rise to the level of the child's head, preventing the child from keeping a firm hold on the surface, and making the situation dangerous if there is no immediate supervision.
This type of equipment, considered to be an aid to learning to swim and designed to be worn in the water, is subject to the European standard NF EN 13138. Under this standard, the manufacturers of this equipment must explicitly state in their instructions that this equipment does not protect against drowning.
For real safety, think about a lifejacket or anti-drowning T-shirt.
For appropriate protection, you should rather consider equipment in the lifejacket category, such as Floatee's anti-drowning T-shirt. It is patented and certified according to a protocol based on the NF EN ISO 12402 standard for lifejackets, making it category III (the highest) personal protective equipment.
This anti-drowning T-shirt is worn by the child, is comfortable and does not hinder movement, and invisibly incorporates an inflatable lifejacket. The safety device is triggered automatically in the event of a fall into the water (unintentional or unauthorised, as the child is often unaware of the danger). In less than 3 seconds, the lifejacket inflates and brings the child back to the surface of the water, turning the child onto its back to keep the airways out of the water. This works even if the child is unconscious, whether they can swim or not.
This T-shirt stands out for its ability to act immediately and independently of adults, offering accessible and innovative additional protection.
In conclusion, even if there is no such thing as zero risk, there are several complementary solutions to minimise the risk of children drowning:
- constant adult vigilance
- teaching the child how to swim or at least basic self-saving skills
- the different types of safety equipment for swimming pools
- appropriate protection worn directly by the child, such as an anti-drowning T-shirt
You can combine all these solutions for optimum safety.
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