SAFETY EQUIPMENT
For When Safety Is The Number One Concern… With accidents in and around water always a concern, pool and spa safety remains a top priority. An enclosure or slatted cover will guarantee increased security, but there are numerous other solutions on the market that will either prevent unauthorised access or protect people once they are in the water. This issue, we look at a selection of products that feature safety as their key selling point and by doing so, are making wet leisure environments safer for all By Jon Wadeson
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adly, hundreds of people drown in the UK every year and many more suffer injury, some life-changing, through non-fatal experiences. So it’s no surprise that safety in and around the UK’s swimming pools and spas is high on the agenda for both the industry and owners because by their very nature, these environments pose a number of hazards to their users, with drowning, being the most obvious one. Thankfully, fatalities within a wet leisure setting only make up a small percentage of the overall drowning figures. However, just one death within a pool or spa is one too many. These risks are ever-present in the commercial sector, but with so many more products now being found in homes across the country due to the pandemic, there’s the potential for the number of incidents to increase short term due to a lack of knowledge with so many new owners. Swimming pools and spas secured by a building, enclosure or raised moving floor can effectively eliminate the risks of unauthorised entry but there are occasions when they aren’t employed or aren’t always an option. Thankfully, though, there are plenty of other options to consider. An obvious choice is a slatted cover, but putting those aside, there are many other products that have been specifically designed with safety being their top priority and in this issue, we take a closer look at a selection of them.
Opening and closing the pool is as easy as turning a key switch, meaning that the cover (and the pool) are much more likely to be used once installed. PoolLock safety covers provide a solid barrier between the water and surrounding area, effectively preventing any access to the water and making them some of the safest covers on the market. In addition, all PoolLock covers will reduce the amount of heat, water and chemicals lost through evaporation, which means pool owners can save money on electricity and chemical usage. In addition to the standard fabric options, PoolLock also offers HeatLock Thermofoam canvas with enhanced insulation properties. Thanks to the foamed insulation layer applied to one side of the canvas, heat transfer across the membrane is reduced by a factor of three when compared to standard fabrics for similar applications. HeatLock’s closed-cell foam structure ensure that PoolLock covers are not only the safest, but also the most energy-efficient available on the market.
PoolLock Automatic Covers offer customers some of the safest, most convenient, most reliable and energy-efficient way to cover the pool. With over 30 years of experience, and installations in over 20 countries, PoolLock is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of automatic safety and slatted covers for swimming pools.
PLASTICA’S RANGE HELPS TO KEEP POOLS SAFE With over 48 years of experience in the pool trade, Plastica know only too well the importance of safety around the pool and offer a wide range of safety products to the trade. The PoolsaverTM Safety Cover has been designed by Plastica to offer a tough construction to cover a pool and keep children or animals from entering it while it is not in use. High-grade stainless ratchet straps help achieve almost effortless tension of the PoolsaverTM across the pool, ensuring this quality, yet low priced manual safety cover will safely support up to 100kg as per the latest French safety laws. Available in
POOLLOCK COVERS PROVIDE SOLID SAFETY BARRIERS Due to their many years of experience designing and producing both automatic and manual covers, PoolLock is able to work with domestic customers and architects to create tailored safety solutions to cover almost any kind of pool. If an automatic system is required, the company’s unique hydraulic-drive system means that the customer does not need any electrical components near the pool. The electrical power pack used to operate the cover and drive the two hydraulic motors can be placed as far from the pool as required.
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PoolLock safety covers provide a solid barrier between the water and surrounding area, effectively preventing any access to the water
SPN December 2021 43 10/12/2021 14:46