Abstract: Lightweight, easily handled safety barriers are commonly erected around swimming pools to save small children from accidental drowning. Prior art barriers are made of a number of flexible panels attached to poles that are inserted into partially sleeved receptacles. The degree of protection offered by such a fence is improved by the provision of interlocking poles and receptacles. In a preferred embodiment, each pole has a key at its lower end and each sleeve has a keyway through which a corresponding pole's key can be inserted. When the barrier is erected each panel is drawn taut, which rotates all but one pole of a section into a locked orientation. The remaining pole, which is at an end of the section, is rotated into a locked orientation by latching it to an end pole of an adjacent section of the barrier.