Plunket defends pool fencing
PA Wellington Up to 80 per cent of young children drowned in domestic swimming pools from 1982-86 would not have died if the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act had been in force, according to the Plunket Society. A society report issued this week on the 36 drownings among one to
five-year-olds in that period says alternatives to the 1988 fencing law — such as teaching water skills to infants, fencing property boundaries and use of pool covers — would not have prevented pre-schooler drownings. The act requires owners of domestic pools to completely fence, to a minimum standard, their pool
area. Eighty per cent of the drownings over the four years occurred in pools with no barriers, or barriers that would not comply with requirements of the pool fencing law. Fifty per cent of the deaths happened in pools with no barrier at all, the report says. The high-risk one to
three age group will be kept out of pools by simple physical barriers, it said. The report says pool covers cause more problems than they solve. They can conceal a missing child from searchers and floating covers especially can make a child believe the cover is safe to walk on.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19890729.2.52
Bibliographic details
Press, 29 July 1989, Page 8
Word Count
203Plunket defends pool fencing Press, 29 July 1989, Page 8
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.