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Safeguards For Home Pools Debated

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By NICOLA M. WHITE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 26, 2008

TAMPA - In 2002, a mom in suburban Virginia looked on, horrified, as her daughter struggled at the bottom of a hot tub.

The mom tried to pull the girl out, but the drain suction was so powerful it took two grown men to wrest her from the spa. By then it was too late. Virginia Graeme Baker, the granddaughter of former secretary of state James Baker, had been underwater for 10 minutes and drowned.

The 7-year-old girl, an avid swimmer, was the victim of the spa's powerful drainage system.

Her death prompted President Bush in December to sign a law that sets new standards for all public swimming pools and spas.

The law also, in certain circumstances, requires anti-entrapment measures, including vacuum-release safety systems that automatically shut off pumps when they sense something covering a drain.

The pool industry and safety advocates applaud the law, but when it comes to residential pools, things get tricky - and that's where Floridians should be on the lookout this swimming season to avoid poolside accidents.

The bottom line, say experts and most folks using common-sense logic, is to keep children supervised while they're swimming.

To avoid entrapment accidents, homeowners also need to keep up with pool maintenance and ensure drain covers remain intact.

If a cover looks broken, swimmers should immediately vacate the pool.

Homeowners also should watch out for evolving state laws.

A debate about pool safety played out in the state Capitol this spring, where lawmakers ultimately scuttled language in a bill that would have required vacuum-release devices on all residential pools built on or after Jan. 1, 2009.

While that might sound like an innocuous idea, it has prompted fierce arguments.

On one side are the pool and spa builders, who argued that the law would not have done anything to address the older backyard pools and hot tubs that, in most cases, are the culprits when it comes to high-profile accidents.

The danger is greatest in pools and tubs with only one drain because a single drain can create the most suction.

Newer pools, the pool builders argue, already have safety measures in place.

Dan Johnson, owner of a South Florida pool-building company, describes requiring vacuum release devices, which can cost upward of $150, on new swimming pools as putting a "seat belt on a dining room chair."

On the other side are the pool and spa safety equipment manufacturers, who say new standards aren't stringent enough.

Vacuum-release systems add an extra layer of protection to prevent accidents and worse, they say, and they vow to bring back the legislation next year.

"It brings back the all important layers of protection for swimming pool entrapment," said Paul Pennington, a founding member of the Pool Safety Consortium. Pennington also is a manufacturer of safety vacuum release systems.

Safety vacuum release systems should be required on even dual-drain pools, he says, because one drain could get clogged. He cites cases where pool builders incorrectly installed second drains or where children tamper with pool equipment.

In the meantime, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission released a report Friday saying the average number of drowning deaths involving children younger than 5 in pools and spas has increased from a yearly average of 267 for 2002 to 2004 to 283 for 2003-2005.
POOL SAFETY TIPS

•Always look for a missing child in the pool first. Precious time is often wasted looking for missing children anywhere but in the pool.

•Don't leave toys and floats in the pool that can attract young children and cause them to fall in the water when they reach for them.

•Inspect pools and spas for missing or broken drain covers.

•For above-ground and inflatable pools with ladders, remove or secure the ladder when the pool is not in use.

•Have rescue equipment and a phone near the pool. Parents should learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

•Do not allow children in a pool or spa that has missing or broken covers.

•If a child does get sucked against a drain, you probably won't be able to pull him off it by tugging at the child's limbs. Instead, move your hand or fingers in between the drain and the place where the child is trapped. Doing so breaks the suction seal.

Sources: Consumer Product Safety Commission; Pool Safety Consortium

Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at (813) 259-7616 or nwhite1@tampatrib.com.

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