Child proof sections

It's a legal requirement for swimming pools to have fences. But what is the best value-for-money fencing solutions to protect children on your property?

It doesn't matter if you're building a new home or buying an existing one, if you've got young kids they need fencing in - not corralled like farm animals of course but the principal is practically the same.

There's a legal requirement to fence swimming pools and spa pools must have lids or covers and yet even then young children still drown. According to Water Safe New Zealand, last year 14 children under the age of five drowned. Not all of these, though, were on farms or residential properties. Even so, this figure was the highest number since 2002 and up 75 per cent on the five year average.

What's the best value-for-money fencing solutions to protect children on your property? Living in an isolated and gated community and never allowing the kids out is one solution but, unfortunately, highly impractical and probably illegal.

The best value fence is tall pailing sufficiently high to dissuade kids from climbing up and over. Slightly pricier is metal fencing, colour steel fencing or aluminium profile fencing with ornamental 'spikes' on top which, because of their sharpness, are a good deterrent for all but the most determined. Many schools are adopting this kind of fencing.

There is framed fencing with bamboo or rattan but they're not as child-proof as the above nor do they keep out cats, dogs and small rodents like mice and rats once a hole has been bitten through. And rattan rots after a few years.

Some fencing systems come with child-proof locks incorporated into the design but these are also available as an after-market product and there are a number of designs to choose from - starting with the ubiquitous padlock and chain to more sophisticated pin-number-required barrel locks. At the top end of the scale there are highly sophisticated digital locking systems that can be activated by a smart phone.

As for fencing around swimming pools, this must be at least 1.2 metres tall. The most common type of fencing is aluminium base and there are a number of varieties and styles to choose from. The 'deluxe' version, the top of the range for pool fencing, is glass balustrade - aesthetically attractive, highly effective and naturally more expensive than aluminium fencing.

Other sites around the home where children under five drowned included buckets, farm troughs and paddling pools. There is no legal requirement to fence any of these and it would be impractical to do so.

Regardless of the type of fencing chosen, however, the best safety measure is care-giver awareness and education.

- Sandy Myhre