APSP Quarterly - Winter 2008 - (Page 25)

overflow into swimming pools. This is a design found in many APSP Awards of Excellence design award projects, where pristine spa water is maintained with overflow circulation alone. We have large examples and small examples; perhaps it is time to consider medium examples —called swimming pools. Don’t misunderstand. Submerged suction outlets have their place in our projects, but only when installed and maintained properly. ANSI/APSP-7 provides multiple methods for doing this, beginning with safety suction covers. You know you have one when it or its packaging states that the cover has been tested and certified by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory to comply with ASME/ANSI A112.19.8 2007 Suction Fittings for Use in Swimming Pools, Wading Pools, Spas, and Hot Tubs. This is an American National Standard designed to test products for protection against all forms of suction entrapment. Certified safety outlet covers are tested for hair entrapment, and this is the test that gives suction fittings their maximum flow rating. There is also a body block test that will confi rm it is not possible to form a seal with a proper cover even when operating as a single outlet. This requirement is found for the first time in the 2007 version of the ASME cover standard and it will change the look of suction outlet fittings dramatically as manufacturers come up with new designs to meet it. ANSI/APSP-7 provides many compliant safety systems for new construction, but our existing pools and spas are just as important and ANSI/ APSP-7 provides answers for these as well. It includes a complete evaluation process to identify and fix problems that we know can cause entrapment injuries. All critical components must be reviewed, and if the flow chart looks complicated, it is because the variety of existing installations can be complicated. A professional evaluation requires answering many questions, such as: how many suction outlets are connected to a particular pump, what is the flow rate, what is the flow rating of the suction outlet cover or grate, is it secure, is it cracked or degraded? These questions are just the beginning. Ultimately safe solutions must be implemented, and that takes time and education. The good news is that we know pools and spas built and maintained according to APSP (NSPI) standards are not the ones in the news. The ones in the news are always installations that were not built to standard, not maintained to standard or modified to no longer comply with the standards. Even with this outstanding track record, the improvements provided by ANSI/ APSP-7 make it even less likely we will ever see an entrapment in a pool or a spa; certainly that is what the current science tells us. ANSI/APSP-7 combines best practices to prevent all forms of entrapment, based on the best science to protect our customers without restricting the water features they have come to expect in a modern backyard. Projects built according to ANSI/APSP-7 will allow our customers to go back into the water without needing to know the fi rst thing about suction entrapment avoidance, and isn’t that the way we want it? A Q Steve R. Barnes entered the pool industry in 1984 and now works for Pentair Water Pool and Spa. He has invented and designed suction safety fittings and systems. Barnes is the incoming chair of APSP’s Technical Committee and is a member of ASME, ASTM and APSP suction safety standards writing committees. He is also a professional pyrotechnical operator producing two televised fi reworks displays each year in Tempe, Arizona. PREVENTING ENTRAPMENT TRAGEDIES ENTRAPMENT DEATHS OR injuries in pools and hot tubs are always tragic events. In the past few months, we’ve seen the disembowelment of a six-year old girl in a public wading pool in Minnesota and the death of a six-year old boy in a residential pool in Connecticut. Pool and spa drain entrapment has now made its way onto the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s list of the top five household hazards. Sensing a need to act, both houses of Congress are in the process of enacting pool and spa safety-related legislation that will impose certain safety regulations and offer incentives to states to strengthen existing legislation in connection with drowning as well as entrapment. APSP and the industry support these efforts and are committed to promoting the safe and sensible use of pools and hot tubs. Very significantly, in 2006, ANSI/APSP-7 American National Standard for Suction Entrapment Avoidance in Swimming Pools, Wading Pools, Spas, Hot Tubs and Catch Basins was approved by ANSI. This standard addresses all forms of entrapment injury, including suction entrapment, body or limb entrapment, hair entanglement, and evisceration. The standard provides several forms of protection, including multiple or unblockable outlets, drain covers that conform to ASME/ ANSI 119.12.8, reduced flow rate and other devices such as an SVRS or a vent line. Available information strongly indicates that several provisions in the ANSI/APSP-7 standard were not followed in each of the above tragedies. In each instance, there was reportedly a single drain, a broken, missing and/or non-compliant cover and, most likely, a flow rate that exceeded the new ANSI/APSP-7 standard. Through the efforts of APSP, the proposed federal legislation is consistent with the new ANSI standard. Preventing further tragedies of this type is a major priority for the industry and particularly the service sector, which has the most frequent and direct contact with pool owners, many of whom may not be aware of the risk in the first place. Here are several steps service providers can take to help prevent entrapment injuries and to protect themselves from negligent owners. If you see something, say something. The recent incidents in both Minnesota and Connecticut reportedly involved drain covers that were not in place. There is no such thing as a “back-up” for this condition and ANSI/APSP-7 BY S T E V E N G E T ZO FF W INTE R 2008 | 2 5

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of APSP Quarterly - Winter 2008

APSP Quarterly - Winter 2008 Contents President's Message Guest Editorial APSP Annual Report Hot Tub Council Initiative to Speak with One Voice Suction Safety Challenging the Process Industry Update Keeping Pace: Staying on the Cutting Edge With Lifelong Learning APSP News & Resources Advertisers' Index

APSP Quarterly - Winter 2008

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