Swimming Hazards all Pool & Spa Owners Need to be Aware of

Everyone with a pool or spa must be aware of the hazards they can pose to the adults and children who use them. The most devastating dangers are those that lead to drowning. Of course, teaching children to swim and placing fencing around your pool are important precautions, but even with those these precautions in place, there is another potentially deadly hazard that even direct supervision cannot prevent. Many have never heard of it and even less understand it. This danger is called drain entrapment. A drain entrapment occurs when a body is held against a pool or spa drain by the force of the pool’s suction or when an article of clothing, jewelry, hair or a limb is caught in a faulty drain.One of the most important factors in keeping children and adults safe from entrapment incidents in pools and spas is to install anti-entrapment or safety drain covers that are compliant with the Pool and Spa Safety Act (P&SS Act) and to have your drain covers regularly inspected. A young girl named Virginia Graeme Baker, who drowned after she was trapped under water by the powerful suction from a hot tub drain, inspired the P&SS Act. In June 2002, Graeme became stuck to a hot tub drain and was unable to pull herself free. Graeme died from drowning, but the real cause of her death was suction entrapment due to a faulty drain cover. After her tragic death, her mother, Nancy Baker, worked tirelessly to advocate for pool and spa safety and the P&SS Act was signed into law in 2007.