There are pool covers, and there are safety pool covers.
Pool covers are designed for a variety of purposes: they can keep debris out; they can keep the heat in; or they can help prevent evaporation. But safety pool covers are a class unto themselves. A safety cover shields the entire pool surface and is secured flush with the deck. These covers are designed to prevent unsupervised access to a pool or spa when it is not in use.
To be considered a safety cover, it must meet the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) Standard F 1346-91.
Drains
As pool owners prepare for the swimming season, they may be unaware of a hazard that may exist in their pools.
Suction 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.
The most recent much-publicized incident of suction entrapment took the life of 8-year-old Aliyah Jaico, who was killed on March 23, 2024, while swimming with her family members in the lazy river swimming pool at the DoubleTree by Hilton Houston Brookhollow.
Authorities said that she was sucked into the plumbing and that the pipe that she was pulled into had no grate, a violation of the Pool and Spa Safety Act that has made drain and plumbing covers mandatory for all public pools since 2008.
One of the most important factors in keeping children and adults safe from entrapment incidents in pools and spas is to install an anti-entrapment or safety drain cover that is compliant with the Pool & Spa Safety Act. The P& S Safety Act is one of the few federal laws applying to swimming pools and is only enforced in public pools. The law was inspired by an entrapment incident that took the life of 7-year-old Virginia Graeme Baker, the granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker III. In June, 2002, Virginia became stuck to a hot tub drain and was unable to pull herself free. Efforts by her mother to pull Virginia from the drain proved unsuccessful. Two men who eventually freed the girl from the spa pulled so hard that the drain cover broke from the force. Virginia died from drowning, but the real cause of her death was suction entrapment due to a bad drain cover.
After her death, Virginia’s mother, Nancy Baker, worked tirelessly to advocate for pool and spa safety. Mrs. Baker, her family and Safe Kids Worldwide actively lobbied Congress to win support for a law to require anti-entrapment drain covers (known as VGB-compliant covers) and other safety devices, as needed.
The statute was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and signed into law by President George W. Bush in December, 2007. The law mandates that drains in public and hotel pools and hot tubs be covered with larger, rounded covers that do not create suction, and that there is a back-up mechanical system installed in drains to prevent suction in those pools that have a single main drain.
Since the Virginia Graham Baker Act was signed into law, only 2 entrapment incidents have occurred in public swimming pools, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Federal law does not require that residential pools have VGB-compliant drain covers, but the importance of replacing and protecting nonconforming drains cannot be overstated. Ask your pool and spa service professional if your pool’s drain cover meets the guidelines of the P& S Safety Act.
