Town to enforce pool fence bylaw

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

As the bylaw enforcement officer for the Town of St. Stephen one of my duties is to ensure that all pools have fencing as defined in our local bylaw. An estimated 58 children age 14 and under drown each year in Canada, while another 140 are hospitalized for near drowning. This is equal to about two elementary school classrooms of children dying every year.
Since swimming pools are involved in nearly half of all drowning and near drowning incidents for children under 14 years, measures must be taken to reduce drowning in these environments. Both in-ground and above-ground pools are a potential hazard. During my career in the RCMP I had occasion to attend to one such tragic event involving a five-year-old. It was not his parents’ pool but rather belonged to a neighbour with no fencing or locked gate on his above ground pool.
Many drowning deaths happen in private homes with unfenced or inadequately fenced swimming pools and spas. In most cases the pools (95 per cent) have inadequate safety gates.
Pools are a particular hazard for children under 5 years old because they are attracted to water but lack a clear sense of danger.
Drowning of young children often occurs when the child is walking or playing near water, not when they are swimming or intending to go in the water. Most happen when the child gets near water during a momentary lapse in adult supervision.
Researchers estimate that proper fencing could prevent sevent out of 10 drowning incidents in home swimming pools for children under 5.
During the past several months I along with the town building Inspector have identified several homes in the town that have no or inadequate fencing. The town has sent letters to these residences identifying the situation and asking that they take the responsible action required. In each and every case there has not been a positive response. I do not know if it is because they feel they are immune from such occurrences or just do not see the urgency of the situation.
The town has the responsibility to each and every resident to ensure that they or their families are not put in harm’s way by virtue of negligence of the few. Enforcement is not always the preferred choice of addressing situations but at times the only means.

Mark J. Fleming
Town of St. Stephen
Bylaw Enforcement Officer