Every summer, as the temperature rises across the U.S., families, young children, and other people looking to cool down flock to fill our 10.7 million private and public pools. Yet, what the New York Times calls a ‘public health crisis’ lurks in waiting. 

Around 4,000 people die every year from drowning — an average of 11 per day — and many more suffer non-fatal injuries such as hypoxic brain injury. The scale of the issue has prompted Wafter Safety USA to commission the ten-year US National Water Safety Action Plan, a collaborative project involving members such as the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the US Coast Guard, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, among others. This plan aims to prevent drowning by making water safety a natural part of everyday life, promoting education and policy changes, among other things, across the U.S.

The plan highlights a number of effective preventative measures that can significantly reduce the chances of drowning when they’re done right. Four-sided isolation fencing, for example, can reduce a child’s chance of drowning by 83% compared to only three-sided fencing that allows access from the home. 

As this example illustrates, it’s crucial that the solutions are fit for purpose. Many perimeter access control options are not; at private and public pools, for example, coded locks should be used when possible.

Latches and the Problem of Unsupervised and Supervised Access

CDC figures show that drowning is the leading cause of death for children aged one to four in America, and the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for children aged five to fourteen. Meanwhile, National Drowning Prevention Alliance (NDPA) data shows nine in ten child drownings occur with at least one adult present, while half happen within 25 yards of a parent or another adult. 

Unsupervised pool access is a significant problem, even for older children, and these figures show how easy it can be for people to not notice drownings while they’re happening. There are several reasons for this: the adults’ attention may be elsewhere, or adults don’t know children have access to the pool. And often, as the NDPA has emphasized, drowning is a lot calmer and quieter than often assumed. 

It’s well documented that physical barriers play a central part in helping to prevent the risk. However, whether at a private or public pool, the right locking solution is crucial to success. 

Latching gates are tempting for home and private pools because they’re easily purchased from the hardware store; they're a simple replacement when an existing access control solution breaks. However, they don’t offer sufficient protection for several reasons. 

Many gate latches that lack outdoor-grade weather protection can wear out quickly and become an ineffective access control solution. At a public facility, broken locks can give anyone unsupervised access to pools at any time. Latches are not always robustly or specifically designed for high-traffic pool areas, increasing the likelihood of damage. If hundreds of people are using them each day, even the best self-closing, self-latching gate latches will soon break. And latches generally aren’t effective for older, taller children who are capable of opening them, putting them at risk even when responsible adults are around.

Choosing locks, as an alternative to latches, can help you properly secure a pool perimeter. Locks provide convenient access control for supervised and unsupervised pools, allowing only those capable of unlocking them access to the water. This helps to reduce the risk to children and young people of any age. 

Locks also require intervention from an adult or supervisor, which can, at private pools, help to bring attention to when children are accessing pools. And in private and public facilities, where locks are in high-traffic areas exposed to the weather, many have heavy-duty, weather-proof construction so they don’t become damaged and undermine the perimeter’s integrity.

Convenience and Control from Keyless Access

When it comes to access control, there are two main types of pool perimeter lock that you can choose from. A standard lock with a key or a keyless coded lock. Either would be better than a latch, but coded locks have several safety advantages in a number of settings.

At all pools, keys can be left in the lock either by accident or on purpose, which undermines the controlled access of the gate and lets anyone through. Keys are also prone to being lost, which is an inconvenience and a risk. At public pools, for example, lost keys mean anyone who finds them now has access. If it’s a generic or universal key, several locks within a facility would need to be replaced to maintain the integrity of the access control. This would be time-consuming and very expensive.

Coded locks eliminate the risk of forgotten or lost keys. They ensure that only those people with the code have access and save time and money that would otherwise be wasted on replacements. Codes are easily changed when needed, and homeowners or facilities managers can use override keys to get access in case of the unlikely event that the code is forgotten.

Coded locks can also improve the lives of facilities and pool managers beyond the pool perimeter. Wherever a key lock is used, a coded lock can be used instead, extending the time, money, and effort benefits. Main entrances can be more easily managed with a coded lock, and so too can locker room lockers. Other parts of the facility, like playgrounds or offices, all benefit from the use of coded locks over traditional key locks.