Top 5 safety apps for pool owners

Installing a salt system in your backyard can be the answer to many parents’ prayers during the hottest months of the year. Taking a dip may not only cool you and your loved ones off, but it can also serve as a fun activity to keep your little ones occupied during summer vacation.

While a pool can present many new opportunities for games and activities, it’s important that swimmers and supervisors don’t forget that safety comes first. Children who are under the age of 5 make up more than 75 percent of pool and spa drowning-related deaths in the U.S., according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. While this is an important statistic to be aware of, even adults aren’t completely safe.

The American Red Cross released research findings in the beginning of June that revealed that almost 50 percent of Americans reported incidents when they thought they may drown. This is why you should take precautions when you or your loved ones use your pool.

One way to do this is to download pool safety apps on your smartphone. Here are some of the top apps that are available this summer for your use.

1. Red Cross First Aid
This app is free for anyone with an iPhone or Android to download. Users have instant access to advice from medical experts for emergency events that can happen at your pool.

When an accident occurs, you can use this app to receive step-by-step instructions that are simple to follow to give your loved ones thorough first-aid attention. It also makes it easy to call 911 if need be. There are also various resources that you can read or watch to become educated on how to handle emergency situations.

2. Home Pool Safety
This app can be downloaded at the iTunes store. It allows pool owners to ensure that their swimming pool is safe for children.

It provides an interactive checklist for what needs to be done in order for your pool to be considered safe. For instance, the list includes items such as fences, gates, chemicals, supervision, electricity and pumps. Ultimately, you can use this checklist to identify problems. If something looks or seems off, the apps allows users to take a photo and email a report.

This app should complement regular pool inspections.

3. Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim
Are you introducing your child to water safety for the first time? Any parent who has a pool should make sure their little ones understand how to be safe when playing near and in the pool. This app, which is free to download, is perfect for children between the ages of 2 and 6. They can follow Stewie, a little duck who wants to swim with the bigger ducks, as he learns pool safety rules before he can jump in.

This e-book includes read-to-me audio, interactive animations, sound effects, a memory game and a sing-along.

4. Victorian Water Safety Guide
Although this app’s audience goes beyond home pool owners, anyone can benefit from it. Victorian Water Safety Guide aims to increase community awareness of water safety by providing users with safety information for a variety of water activities. It also contains resources for how to resuscitate swimmers in the case of an accident.

5. Pool Measuring Pro
When you think about pool safety, you may think more about proper swimming techniques and keeping your littles ones from slipping on the pool deck, but another thing to take into consideration is pool covers. This attachment can prevent kids from falling in when the pool is not being used.

The Pool Measuring Pro app allows pool owners to take down the measurements of their pool when ordering a new liner or safety cover.