For years, safety advocates worked to pass legislation that would make swimming pools and spas safer. After a few ripples, a long-sought law designed to prevent drownings from pool-drain suction went into effect in 2008. Now, it seems that the test protocols used by some labs have been improper, and the pool and drain covers that are supposed to save lives may not comply with the law.

More than 300 children younger than 15 drown in pools and spas each year, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (PDF download), and some 4,200 end up in the emergency room.  

The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, named for former Secretary of State James Baker's seven-year-old granddaughter, who died after becoming trapped by the suction in a spa, was signed into law in December 2007 and went into effect a year later. Consumers Union testified in favor of that and other safety bills before a U.S. House of Representatives committee.

Last week, the CPSC announced that its investigation into three of the laboratories that tested pool and spa drain covers turned up enough concerns (and paper--more than 17,000 pages) that it will hold a public meeting on April 5 "to solicit answers from testing laboratories, drain cover manufacturers and other industry representatives regarding how the testing was conducted, the potential impact on consumer safety, and what changes are being made to the testing procedures. CPSC is undertaking this effort in order to identify covers that have improper ratings and provide important safety information about drain covers to the public by Memorial Day weekend."

We are encouraged that the CPSC is aggressively pursuing problems with compliance to their new regulations. Swimmers will be safer for it.