Pool and spa drains pose a serious risk of body entrapment and hair entanglement, particularly to children, but are preventable hazards if safety precautions, including the use of special drain covers, safety vacuum-release systems (SVRSs), and other pressure-venting filter-construction techniques are used, say the Consumer Product Safety Commission and The American Academy of Pediatrics.
Body entrapment "often involves a child playing with an open drain, inserting a hand or foot into a pipe, and then becoming trapped by increasing suction that causes tissue swelling.3
Hair entrapment occurs when a bather's hair is sucked into the suction fitting drain of a pool or spa, hot tub, or whirlpool bathtub and becomes entangled in a suction fitting drain cover as the water and hair are drawn powerfully through the drain. In several incidents, children were playing a "hold your breath the longest" game, leaning forward in the water and permitting their long hair to be sucked into the drain. strong enough to cause entrapment of hair or body parts, and drowning.
The statistics are sobering and enough to give every parent pause:
The CPSC and the AAP recommend the following safety measures to prevent body entrapment and hair entanglement in a pool, spa, hot tub, or whirlpool bathtub:
Sources:
1. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Guidelines for Entrapment Hazards: Making Pools and Spas Safer (2005)
[3]
2. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 1999 –2007 Reported Circulation/Suction Entrapments Associated With Pools, Hot
Tubs, Spas, and Whirlpools, 2008 Memorandum [4]
3. American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention. "Policy Statement - Prevention of Drowning. [5]" Pediatrics (published online May 24, 2010).
Created June 8, 2010
Links:
[1] http://www.cpsc.gov/businfo/vgb/pssa.pdf
[2] https://momsteam.com/node/3038
[3] http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/363.pdf
[4] http://www.cpsc.gov/LIBRARY/entrap08.pdf
[5] http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/peds.2010-1264v1
[6] https://momsteam.com/health-safety/water-safety-and-drowning-prevention-advice-American-Academy-Pediatrics
[7] https://momsteam.com/team-of-experts/gwenn-schurgin-okeeffe-md-faap/sports-safety/diving-off-diving-boards-is-dangerous-for-kids
[8] https://momsteam.com/health-safety/consumer-product-safety-commission-cautions-divers-about-improper-diving-practices
[9] https://momsteam.com/health-safety/general-safety/infants-toddlers-swimming-pool-safety-tips
[10] https://momsteam.com/health-safety/general-safety/injury-prevention/swimming-pool-safety-tips