If you see the railings for the steps, they are screwed to the deck. To get into the pool you step off the deck, over the pool rail, and onto the 1st step. I thought that would be easy to see, but I can post a pic, thank you!

Then for the rest, I trimmed the deck boards back a bit so now you should see in the pictures that the boards are about 1-2" from the pool. Then there's a couple that have a bigger space, they were cut to fit the old pool.

I can't find any pics of a "platform" or something to keep the kids from standing on the rail.
But there are posts people have posted saying they have done it, but no pics or even replies.