Press Releases
VGB Swimming Pool Safety Act: Comply or Be Incarcerated
If a swimming pool or spa is within your scope of responsibility, then know that if your facility does not have in place at this time anti-entrapment devices, such as ASME/ANSI A112.19.8-compliant drain covers, as per the Virginia Graeme Barker Pool and Spa Safety ACT (VGBA), the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) can shut down your facility, impose fines up to $15 million, forfeit assets, and have you imprisoned for as long as 5 years.
If a swimming pool or spa is within your scope of responsibility, then know that if your facility does not have in place at this time anti-entrapment devices, such as ASME/ANSI A112.19.8-compliant drain covers, as stated within the recently enacted the Virginia Graeme Barker Pool and Spa Safety ACT (VGBA), the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) can and will shut down your facility, impose fines up to $15 million, forfeit assets, and have you imprisoned for up to 5 years.
Think this can’t be true? Think again, the CPSC just sent commercial swimming facilities in Ohio a Notice of Noncompliance to this effect. The CPSC means business and besides the unseasonably cool, wet weather experienced throughout most of the country this past summer along with the economic downturn resulting in many financial cutbacks, “VGBA” drain cover installation and the repercussions for non compliance have been the hot topics with pool and spa operators. The only drawback to installing VGBA covers, besides the installation cost, is that the undersides of automatic pool cleaners get hung up on the significantly taller [than traditional non-VGBA] covers.
The Catch 22 is that the VGBA covers interfere with automatic cleaners’ performance resulting in facilities being fined and even shut down for not maintaining their pools properly. Some pool managers have reverted back to the old ways of manual vacuuming. The result of which is increased labor costs, longer hours, missed areas of the pool and higher chemicals and water expenses making the VGB cover issue quite a costly and difficult one to navigate – quite literally.
While large visible debris is easily seen and removed, be it lifeguards or maintenance personnel are limited to cleaning what they see while standing from across the pool with pole in hand looking for dirt that is anywhere from 3 to 15 or more feet underwater. A valiant effort for sure, but one that is not always as successful or what you may consider an exacting standard for your facility. As a result of this backwards step to manual labor, bather complaints regarding pool cleanliness have risen as swimmers, particularly those with swim goggles, clearly see what is being left behind that is essentially invisible to the outside world, like hair, sand, and other fine dirt along the grout lines, in corners or floating aimlessly about. Regardless, manual labor is still better than a prison sentence, facility closure and / or bankruptcy.
Fortunately, your budget isn’t about to be blown on labor just yet. Aqua Products of New Jersey has directly addressed this issue with the implementation of their NeverStuck™ Rollers into the underside of their latest automatic commercial pool cleaner lines; DuraMAX® and JetMAX. Coupled with concave impression areas the patented Rollers feature enables these Aqua Products cleaners to “roll” over most VGB covers without hang ups. Gil Erlich, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Aqua Products, says “As an American manufacturer and the world’s largest and leading producer of commercial swimming pool cleaners, it is our duty to ensure research and development of responsible, highly effective engineering designs to provide cost saving maintenance solutions which protect the public and our environment’s natural resources”.
Factually speaking, the Aqua Products Robotic cleaners do meet the efficiency and effectiveness criteria and in the absolute majority of cases has solved the VGBA dilemma. With the implementation of an Aqua Products cleaner, facilities are able to have worry-free automated aquatic facility maintenance, which includes scrubbing, vacuuming and filtering floor to waterline* and everywhere in between, including over VGBA main drains. And living up to their claims, when the math is done by tallying up the time it takes for manual labor to clean the pool each day and the total number of days the pool is open, an Aqua Products cleaner can easily pay for itself in as little as 3 months in labor savings alone.
To learn more about the efficiency and effectiveness of robotic cleaners contact a Commercial Cleaner Specialist (CCS) to review your facilities issues, needs and wants to allow them to specify the appropriate model solution for you and your budget and demonstrate the speed in which your facility can enjoy a return on your investment. If you still want to see more, ask an Aqua Products CCS about the availability of an on-site demonstration. Be sure to budget in an Aqua Products robotic maintenance solution, because you can not afford not to. Please call us at 1-(800) 221-1750 ext: 161
