How Smart Are You About Pool Safety?
You may assume home insurance covers all activities and needs surrounding your pool, especially if it was included when you bought your home and insurance as well. However, you play a key role in keeping your residents and guests covered by all insurance policies when they are in and around your pool. Beyond drowning, there are many other dangers around the pool. Cleaning chemicals are dangerous along with the wet surfaces all around the pool causing slips and falls.
State laws also help understand your liability for all risks around your pool under various conditions. As you determine the danger of your pool it can help to choose the liability insurance that needs to be included with your home insurance.
Given the liability exposures all around a pool, proper home insurance coverage is important. It is often helpful to increase home liability coverage ranging from $100,000 to $300,000 up to $500,000. Here at Greg Fay Insurance, we are prepared to discuss the safety level of your pool and the need for your home insurance coverage adjustments.
Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself to make sure you are covered for all neds related to your pool and any incidents that may occur in and around your pool.
Does your Home Insurance Cover Your Pool?
The summer leads to increased poolside activity, requiring safety and insurance coverage for your pool. While you may have the obvious coverage for accidents that occur in and around the pool, repairs can be expensive also. Serious storms or other events that damage or break any of the essential systems of your pool like the filters and other key parts may not be covered
A check of your policy to be sure to have your pool included in your coverage is helpful. It is also helpful to learn things like the essential annual maintenance required to keep your pool covered under your home policy as well as keeping your residents covered under your health insurance.
Are Any Injuries or Other Dangers in Your Pool Covered?
It would help to check your current home insurance policy, especially if you added a pool. Insurance is especially important as you install a pool in your backyard, both in and above ground.
Considering the many water-based risks beyond drowning, additional injuries can take place in and around a pool as well.
It is also important to have your home well-insured during pool installation so all teams working on your property will be safe while working.
With many injuries possible in the pool area, it’s important to know those commonly covered under your home insurance:
- Slips and falls
- Broken bones
- Cuts and bruises
- Electrocution
Importantly, these are common property injuries to house guests without even being in the water. So, pool maintenance is important to keep coverage updated and keep health insurance for all your residents covered as well.
Does Pool Installation Impact Your Existing Home Insurance Policy?
It is important to consider your property overall when adding a pool to your home, especially if your provider is unaware of the change. Most important are the increased risks, liability, and property value. Many safety factors are required to help acquire insurance coverage for your pool, it is important to research these needs prior to installation.
Even more, the addition of umbrella insurance policies can help expand your home insurance to ensure that all potential liability claims would be covered in case of accidents. Because lawsuits are extremely expensive, umbrella policies often provide liability coverage up to $1 million, adding more confidence and comfort with that risky, beautiful pool in your backyard.
Is There a Difference Between an In-Ground or Above-Ground Pool in Your Home Insurance?
Both above-ground and in-ground swimming pools are eligible for coverage under homeowners’ insurance. Basically, with the pool being a detached structure it is required that you update your policy to specifically add coverage for the swimming pool that is installed.
There are different ways to have these pools added to your home insurance coverage depending on the type of pool and installation. Above-ground pools are typically covered as personal property because they are items that you can take with you when you move if you want. But, if you permanently install it with decks or other structures around it, this can require “other structures” coverage just like in-ground pools that are permanent installation.
Do You Have a Fence Around Your Pool?
There may be various requirements with both state laws and your insurance provider surrounding the safety of your pool, so it’s important to understand pool safety needs when installing your pool.
- The safety fence for the in-ground pool should be at least 4 feet high.
- If you have an above-ground pool with a deck, the pool fence should be at least 4 feet above the deck flooring.
- One of the leading pool safety requirements includes enclosing your pool with a self-latching, gated fence.
- Slides and diving boards are always going to cause insurance companies to be concerned. Some will require you to remove them, others will exclude them.
- While this is essential for an in-ground pool, it can also be slightly more flexible regarding the requirements of fencing based on the installation of your above-ground pool.
- Even more, with your above-ground pool, it is often required to have locking ladders to limit the entrance.
So, with these varied requirements based on the type of pool you have installed, it is helpful to check your fencing and other safety enclosures as we work to keep your insurance coverage updated.
Start with Pool Safety to Help Keep Insurance Updated
It is important to remember that with the pool as a part of your residence, you are liable for all accidents that may occur in and around it, especially for all your guests. So, safety is essential when you have guests over for the summer. While all residents of your home should learn to swim, it is also important to ensure that children have adult supervision while in the pool area and that no one ever swims alone.
Some basic safety practices and equipment include a life preserver ring or flotation device along with a phone while people are using the pool in the event of an emergency and the need to call 911. It is also important for at least one person at your home to know CPR for adults and children along with a first aid kit and life hook to pull someone out of the water.
These are only minimal safety equipment and practice tips to help prepare for your summer events and activities around the pool. It could take significant preparation if you plan to install a pool to have safe events at your home and be well-prepared for proper insurance coverage for your pool liability.
With safety essential for poolside events, quality insurance coverage is key. Here at the Greg Fay Insurance Agency, we are happy to help you prepare for all these needs to ensure you are properly covered and to help ensure that you feel comfortably safe when inviting guests over to enjoy summer days around the pool.
Contact Us Today & Let’s Chat About Pool Safety & Liability Insurance:
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