Swimming Pool Alarms Save Lives
by: Owen Walcher
Some of the best childhood memories of summer revolve around good times in the swimming pool. Swimming pool alarms are a wonderful, and much needed, invention that helps to keep quickly alert parents if a child falls into a pool while no adult is around to supervise.
Swimming pool alarms have save many lives since they were first introduced about a decade ago and have become an indispensable piece of safety equipment for homes with swimming pools or for homes that are located within easy access of fresh water lakes. Having a pool alarm can give the homeowner peace of mind and one less thing to worry about during the hectic summer months.
Unfortunately, too often children wander into unattended swimming pools with no type of pool alarm, which then become deadly hazards if the child falls in an no one is near enough to quickly rescue the child.
It is estimated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) that approximately 350 children, under 5 years of age, drown in pools every year, and over 2,500 are taken to emergency rooms after near-drowning events.
The CPSC recently conducted a study that evaluated three different types of pool alarms: the surface alarm which floats on top of the water and detects movement on the surface; the underwater alarm that can identify waves beneath the surface; and, a wristband alarm that is worn by the child, and cannot be removed by children, and which signals when it is exposed to water.
The study revealed that the underwater alarms consistently performed the best and were found to set off the alarm more consistently and were less likely to create a false alarm. When a test object, simulating a small child, was pushed into a pool, the underwater sensors delivered the most dependable results. Also, the underwater type can be used when the pool cover is on, but a surface alarm cannot.
The wristband device alarmed reliably and consistently, but this choice can be impractical because the parent must be diligent about putting it on the child, and it will go off when exposed to any water, such as tap water, sprinklers and water guns.
Even though pools alarms do save lives and are indispensable in households where children might wander off to the pool, it cannot be stressed enough that that swimming pool alarms simply cannot be relied on solely, and should never be considered a substitute of adult supervision of the pool.
Owen Walcher is an Intrepreneur writing articles on subjects such as Swimming Pool Alarms.
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