Supervisors to Consider Pool Safety Guidelines : Building code: The board might require an alarm system or four-sided fence to help prevent child drownings.

In an effort to cut down the number of child drownings, the county government is likely to adopt stricter swimming pool safety standards already approved by about a dozen cities.

About 20% of all child drownings in swimming pools statewide take place in Orange County, which has recorded seven pool-related deaths this year and more than two dozen injuries. According to a survey by the California Public Interest Research Group, Orange County was second only to Los Angeles County in the number of child drownings--17--in 1993.

Swimming pool drownings are the primary cause of injury-related deaths in California among children under age 5.

The new safety standards, which come in the form of amendments to the Uniform Building Code, would apply to new pools only. They would require that a backyard pool or spa be surrounded on four sides by a 5-foot gate or that homeowners install an alarm that sounds whenever someone opens the door leading from the house to the pool.

Under current law, backyard pools can be surrounded by three-sided gates.

Several cities, including Anaheim, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Mission Viejo, already have approved the new rules; others are expected to consider the proposal in the coming weeks.

The Board of Supervisors--which has jurisdiction over unincorporated areas--voted Tuesday to consider the issue later this month, with three of the five members behind it. Two supervisors, Jim Silva and Don Saltarelli, expressed strong reservations.

“I don’t think the government should tell people where to place gates or alarms,” Silva said. “We have enough regulations already. . . . I think good parents will make sure their children are safe.”

Silva suggested that instead of imposing new rules, the county might consider providing pool safety tips to residents planning to build pools or spas.

Added Saltarelli: “I don’t see how we can legislate a perfect world.”

But other supervisors said the measure would provide an extra level of protection for children. Supervisor William G. Steiner said he installed an alarm for his pool years ago and has found it to be effective.

“I have the peace of mind every day that a little grandchild is not going to get out there and in four minutes be dead,” Steiner said.

The county is home to more than 91,000 residential swimming pools--a product of the area’s mild weather, affluence and relatively young population.

If the regulations are adopted, county officials said they expect most builders to install the alarms, which cost about $60. Four-sided gates tend to be unpopular with residents because they obstruct the view of the pools, said Ronald J. Novello, the county’s director of building and development services. The rules would go into effect in January.

The battery-operated alarms are “kind of like a smoke detector,” Novello said. “And no one complains about a smoke detector.”

The county developed the pool regulations in a partnership with the Orange County Fire Authority and representatives of the building industry. Novello said county approval of the rules might prompt other cities to sign on as well.

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Child Drownings

About 20% of California drowning victims younger than 5 die in Orange County, home to more than 91,000 pools. County child drownings during the last 5 years:

‘91 8

‘92 6

‘93 17

‘94 6

‘95 * 7

Source: Orange County Department of Environmental Management. Researched by SHELBY GRAD / For The Times.