Indoor Pools: When a pool is located completely within a house, the walls that surround the pool should be equipped to serve as pool safety barriers. Measures recommended above where a house wall serves as part of a safety barrier also apply for all the walls surrounding an indoor pool.
Barriers For Residential Swimming Pool, Spas, And Hot Tubs
The preceding explanations of the US. Consumer Product Safety Commission's pool barrier guidelines were provided in order to make it easier for pool owners, purchasers, builders, technicians and others to understand and apply the guidelines themselves. Detailed guidelines follow. Reading the following guidelines in conjunction with the diagrams previously provided may be especially helpful. For further information, consult your local building department or code authority.
Application
The guidelines presented in this document are intended to provide a means of protection against potential drownings and near-drownings to children under 5 years of age by restricting access to residential swimming pools, spas, and hot tubs.
ASTM F1346-91. Standard Performance Specification for Safety Covers and Labeling Requirements for All Covers for Swimming Pools, Spas and Hot Tubs.
Definitions
Aboveground/onground pool: See definition of swimming pool.
Barrier: A fence, a wall, a building wall or a combination thereof which completely surrounds the swimming pool and obstructs access to the swimming pool.
Hot tub: See definition of swimming pool.
Inground pool: See definition of swimming pool.
Residential: That which is situated on the premises of a detached one- or two-family dwelling or a one-family townhouse not more than three stories in height.
Spa, nonportable: See definition of swimming pool.
Spa, portable: A non-permanent structure intended for recreational bathing, in which all controls, water-heating, and water-circulating equipment are an integral part of the product and which is cord-connected (not permanently electrically wired).
Swimming pool: Any structure intended for swimming or recreational bathing that contains water over 24 inches deep. This includes inground, aboveground, and onground swimming pools, hot tubs, and spas.
Swimming pool, indoor: A swimming pool which is totally contained within a structure and surrounded on all four sides by walls of said structure.
Swimming pool, outdoor: Any swimming pool which is not an indoor pool.
Section 1. Outdoor Swimming Pool: An outdoor swimming pool, including an inground, aboveground, or onground pool, hot tub, or spa, should be provided with a barrier which complies with the following:
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The top of the barrier should be at least 48 inches above grade measured on the side of the barrier which faces away from the swimming pool. The maximum vertical clearance between grade and the bottom of the barrier should be 4 inches measured on the side of the barrier which faces away from the swimming pool. Where the top of the pool structure is above grade, such as an aboveground pool, the barrier may be at ground level, such as the pool structure, or mounted on top of the pool structure. Where the barrier is mounted on top of the pool structure, the maximum vertical clearance between the top of the pool structure and the bottom of the barrier should be 4 inches.
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Openings in the barrier should not allow passage of a 4-inch diameter sphere.
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Solid barriers, which do not have openings, such as a masonry or stone wall, should not contain indentations or protrusions except for normal construction tolerances and tooled masonry joints.
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Where the barrier is composed of horizontal and vertical members and the distance between the tops of the horizontal members is less than 45 inches, the horizontal members should be located on the swimming pool side of the fence. Spacing between vertical members should not exceed 1 3/4 inches in width. Where there are decorative cutouts, spacing within the cutouts should not exceed 1 3/4 inches in width.
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Where the barrier is composed of horizontal and vertical members and the distance between the tops of the horizontal members is 45 inches or more, spacing between vertical members should not exceed 4 inches. Where there are decorative cutouts, spacing within the cutouts should not exceed 1 3/4 inches in width.
