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Florida's Pool-Safety Standards Drowning In Controversy

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 23, 2007

In recent months, state standards for pool safety have become a muddy mess.

While the rest of the nation is increasing safety standards, Florida is lowering the bar at the behest of the pool industry.

In June, the Florida Building Commission quietly stopped requiring new pools have a safety vacuum-release system - a device that detects when a drain is blocked and swiftly shuts off suction. It made this decision after meetings that lacked much opposition. When opponents finally did step up, the commission said it was too late.

From 1990 to 2003, more than 150 people, mostly children, drowned or were injured because a broken drain cover allowed their body to come in contact with the suction forces in pool drains.

Just last week, Congress passed the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, named for the granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker who drowned in 2002, trapped on a spa drain.

The legislation - spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Pembroke Pines and the subject of extensive public debate - sets new recommendations for anti-entrapment measures, including vacuum-release safety systems. States that require such devices can access federal money for public education and code enforcement.

But in an absurd turn of events, Wasserman Schultz says that because of Florida recent changes, it's ineligible to fully participate in the new program. The pool industry disagrees.

OK, let's hash it out. Let's hold this debate in public. Florida Senate President Ken Pruitt and House Speaker Marco Rubio should schedule legislative hearings, especially since the Sunshine State leads the nation in the number of young children who drown.

Into The Deep

Much of the rancor centers on a single change in the code for new pool construction.

No longer will Florida require safety vacuum-release systems on new pools, although it remains an option, when the code goes into effect in October 2008.

The basis for the change stems from a joint standard created in 2006 by the American Pool and Spa Association and the American National Standards Institute, a document that urges people to use "his or her own independent judgment."

Yet when the appointed building commission made its decision in June, it did so without input from independent pool safety experts at the Florida Department of Health. Now those experts are drafting a letter to the commission saying the new standards are flawed - beyond the singular issue of safety vacuum release systems - and worthy of another look.

Since confusion reigns, public hearings should be held.

Lives are at stake.

A Little History

Florida's pool construction industry has long been at odds with the manufacturers of safety vacuum-release systems. Paul Pennington, whose company Vac-Alert sells the devices, is perhaps the most vocal critic of the new standards.

Pennington - disliked among some pool builders because he was successful in getting Florida to require the vacuum-release device in 2002 - says he was purposely kept out of the recent revisions to the new building codes. State records show that when Pennington tried to speak before the building commission's vote in June, he was shut down.

Jennifer Hatfield, the pool and spa association's chief lobbyist, said the industry's studies show the vacuum-release systems are not effective in most types of entrapments - particularly the more common cases where a swimmer's hair becomes entangled in a pool drain cover or when a child sticks his arm into a drain and the limb swells and gets stuck.

To require vacuum-release systems would give homeowners a false sense of security, Hatfield argues.

The pool industry contends that multiple drains and anti-entrapment drain covers are all that's needed to avoid accidents. That, and pool owners properly maintaining drain covers and shutting down their pool when a drain cover is broken or missing.

Yet there is an equally persuasive argument that because people are lax in properly maintaining their pools, the state should require a device that still helps some who get trapped. Both the International Building Code and the International Residential Code - considered the gold standard of building codes - require a safety vacuum-release system or similar device on new pools.

Truth is, you can listen to the two sides debate each other for hours - and indeed we did - conflicted on whether these are the views of well-meaning people or whether their positions are tainted by self-interest.

That's why an independent hearing is needed.

Florida's elected leaders put a hugely important decision in the hands of an appointed commission that faces little public accountability.

Perhaps the new standards are proper. Perhaps they're not.

Are you willing to bet your child's life on it?

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