Thursday, April 30, 2009

Virginia Graeme Baker Act Governing Public Pools

REMINDER:

As pools across the United States open for the summer, we want to put out a reminder to all North and South Carolina Homeowners Associations that all public pools and hot tubs are now required to install anti-entrapment drain covers meeting the ASME/ANSI A112.19.8-2007 standard. If there is only a single main drain, a second anti-entrapment system must also be installed.

While the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act was actually established in 2007 by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, it went into effect on December 19, 2008.

The act was named after a 7 year-old girl named Virginia Graeme Baker, who accidentally drowned in a hot tub, due to the suction from a drain that pulled the child under and trapped her there.

Although enforcement of this law is left up to each state and may not have active enforcement until 2010, we are advising all North and South Carolina Homeowners Associations to replace their current drain covers with anti-entrapment drain covers, since very few drain covers installed before 2009 meet the standards.

For more on this Act, visit the US Consumer and Product Safety Commission on the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act.

This way, everyone can be sure of a SAFE and happy summer!

Kuester

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