Concerned parents rush to fencing contractors to secure their swimming pool after three children fell in the water last weekend.
• Also read: “Be extremely vigilant”: Five tips to avoid drowning
• Also read: Gloomy day in the Quebec pools
• Also read: A 5-year-old child was found dead in a swimming pool in Repentigny
“The calls have exploded! I would say we received 30% to 40% more calls than a normal Monday. […] This phenomenon is really related [aux drames] that happened in Saint-Lambert, Repentigny and Lévis,” says Pascal Bruneau, vice-president of the Clôture de piscine Enfant Sécure in Lavaltrie in Lanaudière.
On Saturday, a 4-year-old child died in the family swimming pool at his home in Saint-Lambert, Montérégie. A little earlier that same day, a similar tragedy involving a 5-year-old child had been narrowly avoided in Lévis.
On Sunday, a child was between life and death after spending nearly 20 minutes underwater at a residential swimming pool in Repentigny.
sense of urgency
“The world is truly gripped by the sense of urgency following these events,” said Mr. Bruneau.
Because of the inclement weather, Quebecers haven’t really started swimming in their homes yet, so these accidents must have served as a reminder to homeowners of the urgent need to get ready for the summer, says Lanaudoise’s vice president.
Alain Timothy, owner of Clôtures TA in Rawdon, agrees.
“As soon as something like that happens, the phone rings. Always,” claims Alain Timothy, owner of Clôtures TA, in Rawdon.
phenomenon not widespread
In Quebec, Sylvain Proteau, owner of Clôture GP, has not yet felt the same frenzy, which does not fail him.
“Usually when something happens at a pool, like an accident or a rule change, the phone just rings. But I didn’t get a call there,” explains the company boss.
According to Sylvain Proteau, it is above all the change in regulations that fills the appointment books of entrepreneurs.
In 2021, Quebec announced that owners of swimming pools built before 2010 have until July 1, 2023 to comply with the new regulation to reduce the risk of residential drowning. The latter benefited from an acquired right that allowed them not to build a fence around their watering hole. After July 1, 2023, this acquired right will no longer apply.
Between the labor shortages in many companies, difficulties in supplying materials and customers who in many cases jump in at the last minute, the waiting time is palpable.
Clôtures Frost in the greater Montreal area will run out of availability before December, we tell the Journal.
The same on the Clôtures des Patriotes site in Mont-St-Hilaire.
“We’re overcrowded. We’re already filling in the month of May 2023, so we really have a lot of requests, and the sad events don’t really increase or decrease the number of incoming calls,” we explain.