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Algarve |
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Algarve councils to introduce safety rules for private pools
• 16 Oct 2008 •
 THE town councils of the Algarve have decided not to wait for legislation on safety regulations for private swimming pools which the government is currently preparing and announced that they are going to proceed immediately with the adoption of a set of rules, jointly approved last week, aimed at reducing the number of children who drown every year in the region.
Macario Correia, the president of the ‘Algarve Town Councils’ Association’, said that they felt they had to make the move because they couldn’t bear to wait any longer and do nothing about it when they knew that children were dying. "When we learned that the Directorate-General for Consumers was preparing a new law on a national scale, we made several attempts to contact them but, up until now, we haven’t had any response,” he said.
Among the new rules, which are expected to be approved by the Algarve municipalities, will be the mandatory requirement of a fence around the pool to a minimum height of 1.10 metres. The gate must be equipped with a double set of locks which can only open when both are activated simultaneously, making it childproof. The new rules also include the mandatory fitting of a net over the entire surface area of the pool, capable of supporting a weight of 30 to 40 kg.
The installation of sensors to alert adults if a child falls in the pool is also being considered. As soon as the new rules are approved and the regulations come into effect, town councils will decline to issue licences to new properties with pools which fail to comply. Although the Algarve has over 150 kilometres of coastal waters, 83 per cent of child drownings occur in unguarded swimming pools, both private and communal. Since the beginning of this year alone, 12 children have drowned in swimming pools, five of them in the Algarve. Throughout the coastal region of Portugal, a study has revealed that 72 per cent of children admitted to hospital due to incidents in swimming pools were foreigners. The same study revealed that more British children died in pools abroad while on vacation than at home in the UK and more than half of those who drowned could in fact swim. Earlier this year, the Portuguese Association for Child and Injury Prevention, ‘APSI’, launched a national campaign on water safety for children. Under the theme, ‘A morte por afogamento e rapida e silenciosa’ (death by drowning is quick and silent) the campaign includes ads in more than 50 newspapers and magazines. APSI has also launched leaflets, one for national use, and another in Portuguese and English for tourists, as well as posters in English and Portuguese. The campaign advises parents to use pools that are fenced with locking gates, and never to leave a child unsupervised near a pool or use flotation devices as a substitute for supervision. During social gatherings at or near a pool, they advise that a ‘designated watcher’ is appointed to protect young children against pool accidents. If a child is missing, check the pool first. Do not consider young children to be drown-proof simply because they have had swimming lessons. Finally, babysitters and other carers, such as grandparents and older siblings, should learn CPR. |  Return to Top
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