2 Missing toddlers found dead in neighbor's pool

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by ccc123

It was most definitely the parents and Great Grandmothers responsibility.

That's not what the law says, and not what the courts will say. The parents may be responsible, but the pool owner was at fault.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by stan4

She had a fence and a gate.

What next? Forcefield?

Pool Fence Code Requirements | Aquaview Journal

[dizzybint]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

That's not what the law says, and not what the courts will say. The parents may be responsible, but the pool owner was at fault.

Surely not.... Does that mean if a child wondered into my house and fell in my bath full of water, it was my fault..

[nightbird47]

We had a big doughboy pool. It was five foot in the middle, and my dad set it up on a perminent basis, and big enough for adults to enjoy too. It had a brick walkway and a ladder which was tied in place. He heated and kept it clean by a very large piece of black plastuc which draped over all of it, with a cover which fit the pool and snapped on tightly. Only an adult hand could remove it. The plastic also heated the water, and sometimes it took adding cold water in the summer.

Really small kids didn't get to swim, but I had friends who came to play. But he had absolutely strict rules about the pool. No pushing or other bad behavior. No kids too small without an adult. And when everyone was done, the pool could not touched. It never sat unused and uncovered with the net. If kids were swimming, an adult was watching at all times.

The net would hold a childs weight if they did climb up. And as far as getting in the yard, our sheltie kept people from getting in the gate. He could get in the yard from the house if anyone tried getting in the fence.

My father would never EVER have put in an open pool regardless of how good the pool cover or the fence or the gate or the dog barking someone was messing with the fence. They could have put in a standard pool, but he didn't feel they were safe.

This is such a sad tragedy, and the very reason my dad had the doughboy. You can lock the gate, keep watch, have an alarm.... etc but you can't be sure its not going to fail. And the parents... that age I'd have been where I could check often if my son had been playing or napping at that age.

It's primarily the parents responsibility to keep good enough watch on their kids, especially todders, that they don't leave the house. But I think if you have a pool, and especially if you have young neighbor kids play in it, you must have sufficent security that small kids *can't* sneek in later.