As i'm sure your aware from resent media hype in the national newspapers, ponds can be dangerous places especially for unsupervised children.A number of highly publicized deathes has brought a good deal of attention to this fact, and not before time. Statistics by Rospa (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents)for 2002 on drowning show a total of 427 deaths by drowning of which thirteen of these in garden ponds, That may be only 3%. but the death of 13 children when it is avoidable is a tragedy.
What can we do to ensure safety in our pond? Even if we dont have children,a visiting child is still at risk.
Well we have a number of options here, when designing your pond you could raise the pond level with brickwork, this prevents the child mearly running into it with out seeing it, and can keep out smaller children completely. For larger children a raised fence on top of the raised brickwork will keep them safe whilst they can still see the fish, this applies well to koi ponds or ornamental ponds in terraced gardens but in wildlife ponds and ponds in more natural surroundings brickwork would not look so good.
In these circumstances a metal or plastic grid is better, you can have a custom built metal grid, made by a blacksmith, which compliments the pond perfectly or you can get a plastic grid which sites below the surface and is almost completely unseen. There are now a few companys that make and install these and being far from cheap, the’re cheaper and easier to manage than a metal grid. And on the subject of price what price would you put on a Child’s safety.Please contact us with your area or postcode and we can supply the nearest dealer for pond safety equipment.