Title 14 of the U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) (Pub.L. 110-140) is the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act. This act was named for Virginia Graeme Baker, who drowned in a hot tub in 2002. In 2006, at the fifth annual drowning symposium, United States Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz introduced legislation that eventually became the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act to combat the large number of persons, especially children, who are hurt or killed in pools and spas every year. Drains and their blockability became the main focus of this act. This act became enforceable law on December 19, 2008.
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Virginia Graeme Baker
Virginia Graeme Baker was a seven-year-old girl who drowned when she was trapped underwater by the powerful suction of a hot tub drain. She was simply called "Graeme" and was the second youngest of five daughters including a twin. She was a proficient swimmer for her age and had been able to swim on her own since the age of three. Additionally, she was a member of her community swim and dive team. Her parents were Nancy and James Baker IV. James Baker is the son of former Secretary of State James Baker III.
In June 2002, Graeme was stuck to a hot tub drain by suction. Efforts by her mother to free her were unsuccessful and when two men eventually were able to free her (postmortem), the drain broke from the force. Although Graeme drowned, her official cause of death was "suction entrapment due to a faulty drain cover". Following Graeme's death in June 2002, her mother, Nancy Baker, began work to advocate pool and spa safety. She began lobbying Congress to pass legislation to require anti-entrapment drain covers as well as other pool and spa safety devices. Sponsored by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act was included in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 as Title XIV. EISA was introduced to Congress on January 12, 2007 and signed into law on December 19, 2007 by President George W. Bush.
Legislation introduction
At the 5th annual drowning symposium, in 2006, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz introduced her plan for legislation that would eventually become The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act. Congresswoman Schultz of Florida's 20th district had previously introduced and passed pool safety legislation in Florida under the Preston de Ibern/McKenzie Merriam Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act of 2000. This act had shown success and promise as Florida's death rate of newborns to 5 year olds in drowning fatalities reached its lowest level since 1998 in 2004 at a rate of 3.3 deaths per 100,000. Congresswoman Schultz considers her legislation the reason for this decrease in infant drowning deaths. She further believes that the simple addition of a four-sided fence could reduce infant fatalities from drowning and near death events by 50-90%.
Pool/spa accident statistics
Drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death in children in the United States, second to traffic collisions. In 2002, 335 children under the age of 15 drowned in pools and spas in America.
According to the National Safety Council (NSC), 172 children under the age of 15 drowned in pools or spas between Memorial Day and Labor Day in 2010. An additional 180 children under the age of 15 were injured. The NSC is further calling for increased vigilance by parents and pool/spa owners. They suggest precautions such as four sided fences for pool/spa areas, alarms on all doors accessing pool/spa areas, heavy duty pool covers, anti-entrapment drains and close supervision of children near pools/spas.
Definitions from EISA
There are 7 definitions given under title XIV of EISA 2007.
The following definitions are directly quoted out of EISA 2007:
(1) ASME/ANSI — The term 'ASME/ANSI' as applied to a safety standard means such a standard that is accredited by the American National Standards Institute and published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
(2) Barrier — The term 'barrier' includes a natural or constructed topographical feature that prevents unpermitted access by children to a swimming pool, and, with respect to a hot tub, a lockable cover.
(3) Commission — The term 'Commission' means the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
(4) Main Drain — The term 'main drain' means a submerged suction outlet typically located at the bottom of a pool or spa to conduct water to a recirculating pump.
(5) Safety Vacuum Release System (SVRS) - The term 'safety vacuum release system' means a vacuum release system capable of providing vacuum release at a suction outlet caused by a high vacuum occurrence due to a suction outlet flow blockage.
(6) Swimming Pool; Spa — The term 'swimming pool' or 'spa' means any outdoor or indoor structure intended for swimming or recreational bathing, including in-ground and above-ground structures, and includes hot tubs, spas, portable spas, and non-portable wading pools.
(7) Unblockable Drain — The term 'unblockable drain' means a drain of any size and shape that a human body cannot sufficiently block to create a suction entrapment hazard.
Drain provisions
A drain is defined as plumbing fitting installed on the suction side of a pump in a pool, spa or hot tub. Drains are now required to be "unblockable." This term has previously been defined in the "definitions" section. Four main ways of keeping a drain from being blockable are outlined as: large aspect covers, long channels, large outlet grates and circulation designs that do not include fully submerged suction outlets. In the United States, if a pool or spa does not employ an unblockable drain, it must include, at a minimum, one of the following safety systems: a safety vacuum release system (SVRS) as defined in "definitions,' a suction limiting vent system with a tamper resistant atmospheric opening, a gravity drainage system that utilizes a collector tank, an automatic pump shut-off system, a device or system that disables the drain or any other system certified by the consumer product safety commission.
Compliance
As of December 19, 2008, it became unlawful to manufacture for sale, offer for sale, distribute in commerce or import into the United States any pool/spa product that is not within conformity to the new pool/spa safety rule, 15 U.S.C. § 2068(a), or the new drain standards, ASME/ASNI A112.19.8.
Any person who knowingly manufactures, sells, distributes or imports a device of noncompliance shall face penalties up to the maximum of $1.825 million. Congress is considering raising this amount to $10 million per offense. Imprisonment is also allowed for this offense, however sentencing term guidelines are not outlined. Criminal and civil penalties could also ensue if any person knowingly does not report the practice of another manufacturing, selling, distributing or importing a noncompliance product.
Pools and spas that are not in operation on December 19, 2008 do not need meet new safety standards until they intend to reopen.