Washington, DC - Senator Richard Blumenthal, Representatives John Larson and Jim Himes, and other members of Congress today received a favorable reply from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on their request to require additional protection for single-drain pools to prevent needless injuries and death following a number of accidents in Connecticut and across the country.
CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum wrote that the Commission voted on September 28 to revoke the April 6, 2010 interpretive definition, and “will be providing updated guidance to public pool and spa operators stating that compliance with the VGB Act requires installation of both a compliant drain cover as well as a secondary back-up system… I am pleased that a majority of my fellow Commissioners now agree with this position.”
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, between 2008 and 2010 an estimated average of 5,100 pool or spa emergency department-treated submersions for children younger than 15 occurred each year. Children younger than five represented 79 percent of these-injuries.
Blumenthal, Larson, and Himes were joined in their original letter by Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), as well as Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).
