POOL SAFETY DEVICES

It's the law - From January 2005 for new pools and from January 2006 for existing pools, all in-ground swimming pool must be protected by a system that conforms to the AFNOR standards regarding the provision of safety devices.

These are:

Safety Barriers (Fences) - Final Standard published NF P90-306

Safety Covers – Final Standard published NF P90-308

Pool Alarms - Final Standard published NF P90-307

Pool shelters - Final Standard published NF P90-309

The law states that:

Failure to comply is punishable by a €45,000 fine. “Collectively used pools” are not open to the public but only to customers and owners, such as those in the grounds of hotels, restaurants, campsites, seasonally let properties and pools shared by several owners.

Legally, you may use any one standardised device. However the CSC (French consumer safety commission) prefers barriers and their combination with other safety measures.

Insurance

Ask your insurance company for advice and your letting agent if your property is let. Many people do not realise they may require additional public liability cover (responsabilité civile) if they let their property.

Sundry details

You are not going to be able to build your own safety device from normal DIY materials. You should only purchase devices that have a statement of conformity naming the standard to which it conforms. All standardised devices have instruction manuals. Read and keep these. Think ahead to winter and how a device will
be used. Will it be compatible with your existing pool covers?

NF P90-306 Safety barriers and gates A barrier can be combined with walls and sides of buildings. These walls must be a minimum of 1.10m at all points and must be non-climbable. Any access points to the pool must be equipped with a conforming device.

For collective use any means of access must be both self-closing and self-locking. There must be no items outside the barrier that can be used to stand on within a 1.10m radius from the top of the barrier, such as flowerpots or bicycles. The standard recommends a barrier is installed no less than 1m from the pool nor too far that it loses effectiveness.

NF P90-307 Alarm system - Perimeter or immersion alarms must be installed so that the alarm can be heard in all properties using the pool and a rescue made within three minutes by an adult. When deactivated to use the pool the alarm will reactivate after three minutes of inactivity, should you forget to manually reactivate.

If you have a contre-courant system be aware this may stop automatic reactivation. Although devices are tested not to give false alarms, if you have a robot cleaner check it is compatible with the alarm.

NF P90–308 Safety covers and NF P90–309 Pool shelters - Designed to prevent a child falling into the water a cover must support 100kg; a ‘bubble’ cover is not a safety cover. Covers and shelters must be closed and locked to conform in the absence of
adult supervision.

All the standards recommend signs displayed in the pool area with safety information

SAFETY DEVICE SELECTION

	Alarms	Fences	Covers	Shelters
Types	Water disturbance sensors and infra-red beams	Metal or mesh supported by metal or composite fibre poles	Manual covers supported by aluminium bars or submerged automatic floating covers	Must be fixed in place to act as a safety device
Cost	Can be less than 1000 euros	Depends on pool size and fence type. Fully AFNOR compliant fencing can be installed for 65 euros per metre	From 2000 euros for covers with bars and from 6000 euros for automatic covers	From 10,000 to 50,000 euros depending on pool type and size
Effectiveness	Water disturbance sensors will not work when pool is covered by any type of cover or ice. Infra-red devices are set off by animals. If the house is left empty an alarm will not comply and so pool needs to be fenced	The most cost-effective way to provide the safety device in both new and existing pools. A survey is required before retro-fiting to an existing pool	Can act as a solar cover as well - but really needs to be motorised to be effective as a safety cover	When the cover is pulled back there is no effective safety device - unless a fence is used as well
Retro-fitting to existing pool	Yes	Yes - but some building work may be required	Covers with bars cab be easy to fit but submerged automatic cover fitting is virtually impossible in most circumstances	Yes depending on type

 

Bluepools can install any of the above devices with the pools that it builds. We will also install fences to existing pools.

Alarms look like this:

And fences look like this

Bluepools can install safety fencing from 69 euros per metre HT.

The installation of safety fencing is always more satisfactory if new pool paving is installed at the same time. So why not give your pool a facelift with a new liner, new paving and copings as well as the safety fence to comply with the law.