CPSC Warns on Summer Pool, Spa Incidents
The agency said there were media reports of 55 pool and spa drownings and 63 near-drownings during the first five months of 2011. Its "Pool Safety: Simple Steps Save Lives" campaign resumed May 26, in time for Memorial Day.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission released its latest annual statistics on deaths and injuries involving pools and spas, announcing May 26 that 55 drownings and 63 near-drowning incidents had occurred in 29 states and territories during the first five months of 2011, according to media reports. The agency began the second year of its "Pool Safety: Simple Steps Save Lives" educational campaign that day at a news conference, with CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum joined by U.S. Olympic swimmer Janet Evans.
The statistics show:
- An average of 383 pool- and spa-related drownings of children under 15 occurred annually from 2006 to 2008, and about 76 percent of the reported fatalities involved children younger than five.
- An estimated average of 5,100 pool or spa emergency department-treated submersions for children younger than 15 occurred each year from 2008 to 2010; children younger than five represented 79 percent of these injuries.
- Children between the ages of one and three represented 66 percent of these fatalities and 64 percent of the injuries.
- About 72 percent of the fatalities from 2006 through 2008, and 55 percent of the estimated injuries from 2008 through 2010 that involved children younger than 15, occurred in a residential pool or spa.
- Based on reported statistics, 96 percent of victims involved in a submersion incident will die. Fatalities usually occur the day of the drowning event (72 percent). For the victims who survive the event, most will succumb to their injuries within a week (24 percent). Only 4 percent of near-drowning victims survive beyond a week, and many have severe injuries and require intensive medical care.
- There were no reported entrapment fatalities for 2010. CPSC received three reports of entrapment injuries during 2010.
CPSC also announced eight companies -- A&A Manufacturing, of Phoenix, Ariz.; AquaStar Pool Products Inc., of San Diego, Calif.; Color Match Pool Fittings, of Surprise, Ariz.; Custom Molded Products, of Tyrone, Ga.; Hayward Pool Products, of Elizabeth, N.J.; Pentair Water Pool and Spa, of Sanford, N.C.; Rising Dragon USA, of E. Sweetwater, Tenn.; and Waterway Plastics, of Oxnard, Calif. -- have agreed to voluntarily recall about 1 million pool and spa drain covers that were incorrectly rated to handle the flow of water through the cover, which could pose a possible entrapment hazard to swimmers and bathers. No injuries have been reported, the agency said. The covers were made in the United States and China.
For contact information for these manufacturers, consumers should visit this website. They can contact the Drain Cover Recall Hotline at 866-478-3521 or visit www.apsp.org/draincoverrecall.