Florida’s Legislative Session ends Without Addressing Critical Pool Safety Issue

PRLog (Press Release) – May 08, 2008 – Florida’s Legislative Session ends Without Addressing
Critical Pool Safety Issue

State’s pool & spa building codes do not meet international safety standards or Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act provisions


WASHINGTON D.C./TALLAHASSEE -- With the leadership of the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Marco Rubio, the Florida House passed HB 679 relating to community associations. This legislation contained pool and spa safety provisions relating to entrapment accident prevention. It would have required any residential pool built after January 1, 2009 to include a properly designed unblockable dual drain system along with a third layer of protection including gravity feed and safety vacuum release systems (SVRS). If passed, Florida would once again become compliant with international building and safety code standards as well as the recently passed Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act championed by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. This law will take effect as of December 19, 2008.

Unfortunately, even though the legislation passed the House (115-1), it did not pass the Senate. Last minute lobbying by the powerful pool building industry and concerns about adding cost to the price of building a residential pool.

“This would have been a major win for Florida’s children,” said Paul Pennington, founding Board member of the Pool Safety consortium. “The state’s current building codes don’t do enough to prevent horrific drain suction injuries and drownings caused by blocked or poorly designed systems.”

In August 2007, Florida’s (previously) strict pool and spa building codes were changed and downgraded when the pool building industry persuaded the Building Code Commission to replace provisions requiring a third layer of protection with its own set of standards. Unfortunately, this safety downgrade occurred virtually unnoticed and was not reported in the media. Now Florida finds itself lagging behind the rest of the country in pool /spa safety.

Faced with these facts, it’s clear that there will remain a significant need for state legislation to get Florida back in compliance with not only the newly passed Federal legislation, but also the International Building Code (IBC), International Residential Code (IRC), CPSC and Safe Kids Worldwide. It is likely that this issue will be taken up again in 2009.