Dimensions and Design of swimming pool fences and balcony - ANEC

elevance. In the present research, and strictly
for methodological reasons, children were
encouraged to pass the barriers. That is the only
way to test the overcoming resilience of a
barrier. The comparisons between barriers, the
characteristics of the techniques used by the
children, the effects of body dimensions and
age, are a natural outcome of the method that
we’ve developed. The findings that we’ll report
must take the methodological strategy into
consideration. In fact, children were asked to do
something they know they shouldn’t.
requirements depending on the age of the child;
b) testing some of the most common solutions
in what concerns their ability to climb; c)
determining which are the main factors
associated with the children’s ability to pass
through, below or above a fence or a barrier.
Additional information was provided by selected
anthropometric variables.
The ability to pass barriers and fences was
assessed by the absolute overcoming resilience
and, if possible to overcome, by the time
necessary to “conquer” the obstacle.
1.2 Purpose of the project
The literature research had the objective of
gathering information on norms, law, and
regulations about fences and barriers enforced
in different countries. A preliminary analysis of
fences and barriers helped to categorize them
following a reasonable classification system. The
design of the barriers was analysed from a child
safety point of view for the different age groups
under consideration. The review of literature
also addressed specific concepts that have
implications on the issue of child safety.
Subsequent to the literature research we have
carried out practical tests with children with the
main purposes of: a) finding out different height
1.3 Scope
The project focuses on the skills to pass these
objects of children aged from 9 to 75 months.
The barriers under analysis replicate some of the
major types of restraining devices available on
the market. For practical reasons a limited
number of barriers had to be selected, because
the repeated practice of different barriers may
introduce learning and adaptation effects. The
panels and barriers that were investigated
approximately represent the diversity of
solutions. It is not possible to represent all
available solutions according to fashion, design
or other regional specificities.
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Faculdade de Motricidade Humana
Universidade Técnica de Lisboa