Swimming pools are great for recreation, but they can be dangerous. Regular pool inspections exist to assure swimmers' safety, and after years of crawling around equipment pads and pool decks, one issue shows up more than any other: barrier and gate compliance.
California law requires pools to have an approved barrier, self-closing and self-latching gates, and in many cases additional layers like alarms or safety covers. The most common finding we log is a gate that doesn't self-close reliably, propped open, sagging on its hinges, or missing the latch hardware entirely.
After barriers, the next most frequent issues are suction entrapment risks from outdated or missing anti-entrapment drain covers, and electrical bonding problems around pool equipment, both of which sound minor until you understand what they're actually designed to prevent.
None of these are expensive fixes on their own. The real risk is that they're easy to overlook precisely because the pool still looks fine and still works fine, right up until the day the safety feature is the only thing standing between a backyard and a tragedy.