Unsafe pools and lack of barriers continue to put children at risk—learn what to watch for and how to keep kids safe this summer.
Recent swimming pool product recalls in 2025 have highlighted serious safety concerns, especially for families with young children. Faulty ladders, drain covers, and flotation devices have been linked to injury and drowning risks. This article outlines which products have been recalled and offers practical safety tips, including fencing, alarms, and adult supervision. Whether you own a pool or rent a vacation home, knowing how to protect children around water is more important than ever.
Coming in hot, right in the midst of summer fun season… a serious swimming pool recall.
The news is in—more than 5 million above-ground swimming pools manufactured by Bestway, Intex, and Polygroup have been recalled because of a drowning hazard, following reports of nine related deaths.
2025 Swimming pool recall
Reports of nine drowning deaths have led to the recall of 5.2 million above-ground swimming pools sold in the U.S. and Canada.
Certain pools manufactured by Bestway, Intex Recreation, and Polygroup have been sold by retailers that include Walmart, Target, Sears, Lowe’s, Kmart, Toys “R” Us, Sam’s Club, The Home Depot, Big Lots, Costco, BJ’s, Amazon and others. These pools range in price from $400 to more than $1,000 and have been sold since the early 2000s.
The recall is because these pools have compression straps that run along the outside of the pool, and they could create footholds, or places where young children can step or climb to gain access to the pools. Children who access swimming pools or water unsupervised and unattended present a serious risk of drowning.
The nine drownings were children between the ages of 22 months and three years old, each of whom gained access to the pools from these footholds. They took place in California, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin and Missouri.
You can see if your pool is subject to the recall here.
How to prevent child drownings in above-ground pools
In the immediate sense, if you’re the owner of a recalled pool, you can contact the manufacturer for a free repair kit. The kit includes a rope that attaches to vertical support poles and does not present a foothold “stepping stone” for a child to climb into the pool unattended.
Looking ahead, though, there are precautions for swimming pool safety that every parent should follow to keep children safe.
Factors that contribute to child drownings
- Lack of swimming ability
- New parents
- New pool owners
- Multiple children around the pool
- Underestimating the mobility of a toddler
- Lack of pool barriers
- Lack of close supervision
- Failure to wear a life jacket
- Seizure disorders
- Alcohol use
Enjuris offers complete guide to child drowning prevention
There are a couple of key components to preventing child drownings:
- Swim lessons
- Constant adult supervision without distraction or interruption
- Barriers to unsupervised and unattended entry to bodies of water
One of the most significant concerns for child drownings is related to swimming pools at Airbnb or vacation rental homes. In these situations, it’s often the case that children access a pool, lake or pond because the parent is unfamiliar with all the home’s exits, or the fence around a pool isn’t properly locked, or similar.
Enjuris offers the frightening statistics on child drownings—in rental homes and elsewhere—along with a state-by-state guide to requirements for swimming pool fences, locks and alarms—with other important information, including:
- Child drownings at Airbnb and vacation rental properties
- Legal liability of pool owners
- Safety differences in vacation rentals vs. hotels and public pools
- Legal defenses to swimming pool accident lawsuits
- Swimming pool accident damages
- How to prevent pool accidents
- Guide to best types of fences for pool safety
- Requirements for pool fences
- Homeowner’s insurance and pool fence requirements
You can find all of this valuable information and more at the Enjuris Guide to Swimming Pool Accidents, Injuries & Deaths.
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