great question bonnie.. when I was bulding mine I had alot of things I had learned from my small pond that I made sure I took into consideration, but now when I have visitors over with small kids I always worry about could they get hurt... have I thought of everything I could have... Im sure alot here will come up with good safety ideas but heres what I did..
My first small pond was a nightmare for people walking up to the edge and standing on the very end of the rocks which almost always fell into the pond sometimes them with it. On my big pond the lay of the ground worked perfect for the pond to have high berms, most of them are a good 3 ft high then slope very steeply and quickly down to the flagstone patio. This makes it almost impossible to walk on the edges/berm of my pond especially since its heavily planted and bouldered
. I made two areas with steps up to a flat area at the edge of the pond for viewing, feeding fish etc. I used the round landscape timbers drove into the ground there so there would be no rocks to step on and I like the looks of that really well. I put a dock in on the back ,more level side, to walk out over the pond.. thats kind of a worry for me when kids are there. it extends out into the pond and they could fall in.
My pets are another big concern. I had "beaches" in all of the pond the first year in case they fell in they could walk out but I took them out last year and dug it down with no plants ledges but I did leave it about 12" then quickly slope down to 18" to give them a little traction and on the most likely point for them to fall in, I left steps which also helps me getting down into the pond. I have one doxie with epilepsy and he is always a concern if he would have a seizure and fall in.
My waterfall is way up on a steep bank that you would not believe anybody would be up there on but you let kids come and thats the first place they head and parents never say a thing.. the drop off there is a good 3 or better down onto more rocks. Fortunatley the only area they can get to now is the waterfall plate itself. I used a huge cut piece of flagstone that is on top of a cemented block wall under the liner. The plate though is huge and goes back into the stream a good 4 ft then on top of that I build concrete bolders so theres no chance that thing is gonna fall off and into the pond with kids on it. I also built steps out of rocks and concrete up the steep sides so its easy to get up to maintain the waterfall and flowers etc.
I also tried to make the two areas behind the pond where I put in lotus tubs, level as possible around where I have to get in to maintain. One thing I have a problem with is when I am trying to get the string algea off my waterfall plate that plate is slick as glass so I pretty much have to get into the pond and wade over to the waterfall to get that off.
Cant wait to hear others safety ideas.
tinkster