[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 86 (Tuesday, May 4, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24587-24589]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-10163]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION


Public Field Hearing Concerning Swimming Pool Safety

AGENCY: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice of public field hearing.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (``CPSC or 
Commission'') will conduct a public field hearing in Tampa, Florida, on 
Monday, June 21, 2004 to obtain information and views from the public 
concerning swimming pool safety. The hearing will focus on drownings of 
children under 5 years old in residential swimming pools and spas, as 
well as entrapments and entanglements in suction outlets in swimming 
pools and spas. The hearing will address the following general 
questions: What has worked to prevent swimming pool drownings of young 
children--and why? What has not worked to prevent these drownings--and 
why? What can CPSC do to reduce drownings of young children in 
residential swimming pools? What strategies are most effective in 
addressing suction entrapment and entanglement incidents? What can CPSC 
do to prevent these incidents?
    The Commission requests members of the public to participate in 
this hearing. The Commission is particularly interested in 
participation from city/county/state code officials, injury prevention 
specialists, industry representatives, fire department/EMS officials, 
medical personnel, legislative officials, and parents/caregivers of 
children who were victims of drowning or near-drowning.

DATES: The hearing will be held on Monday, June 21, 2004, from 10 a.m. 
to 6 p.m. The Commission will recess for lunch around 12 noon. Requests 
to make an oral presentation, and 10 copies of the text of the 
presentation, must be received by the Office of the Secretary no later 
than June 7, 2004. Persons making presentations at the meeting should 
provide an additional 10 copies for dissemination on the date of the 
meeting. In addition, requests for audiovisual equipment (e.g., 
Powerpoint) for presentations must be made to the Office of the 
Secretary by June 7, 2004. Oral presentations should run no more than 5 
minutes. The Commission reserves the right to limit the number of 
persons who make presentations and the duration of their presentations. 
To prevent similar presentations, groups may be directed to designate a 
spokesperson. Written submissions in addition to, or instead of, oral 
presentations may be sent to the address listed below and will be 
accepted until July 21, 2004.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the University of South Florida 
College of Public Health, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Tampa, Florida 
33612-3805. Requests to make oral presentations, and texts of oral 
presentations should be captioned ``Swimming Pool Hearing'' and mailed 
to the Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, 
Washington, DC 20207, or delivered to that office: Room 502, 4330 East-
West Highway, Bethesda, Maryland 20814. Requests and texts of oral 
presentations also may be submitted by facsimile to (301) 504-0127 or 
by e-mail to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about the purpose or 
subject matter of this meeting, contact Deborah Tinsworth, Project 
Manager, Directorate for Epidemiology, U.S. Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, Washington, D.C. 20207; telephone: (301) 504-7307; e-mail: 
[email protected]. For more information about the schedule for 
submission of requests to make oral presentations and submission of 
texts of oral presentations, contact Rockelle Hammond, Office of the 
Secretary, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, DC 
20207; telephone (301) 504-6833; fax (301) 504-0127; or e-mail 
[email protected].

[[Page 24588]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background

    Swimming pools can be dangerous to young children. In 1999 and 
2000, an average of about 250 children under 5 years old drowned in 
swimming pools each year. In 2002, approximately 1,600 children under 5 
years old were treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms for near-
drowning injuries related to swimming pools. About 58 percent of these 
children were hospitalized. Approximately 67 percent of the near-
drowning injuries were reported to have occurred in home settings. 
Societal costs associated with these drownings and near-drownings are 
almost $2 billion each year. In addition, these tragedies result in 
severe emotional impacts on the families of the victims. From 1990 
through October 2003, CPSC has reports of 126 suction entrapment 
incidents, including 25 deaths. These incidents occurred in both 
swimming pools and spas.
    CPSC has been actively involved for many years in injury prevention 
activities addressing swimming pool safety. In the late 1980s, CPSC 
conducted an extensive study of submersion incidents involving children 
under age 5 in residential swimming pools in eight counties in 
California, Arizona, and Florida. The results of this study indicated 
that most of the victims were boys between 1 and 3 years old. Nearly 
half of the victims were last seen in the house before being found in 
the pool. In addition, 23 percent of the victims were last seen on the 
porch or patio or in the yard. This means that fully 69 percent of the 
children who became victims were not expected to be in or at the pool, 
but were found in the water. Sixty-five percent of the incidents 
occurred in a pool owned by the victims's immediate family, and 33 
percent occurred in pools owned by relatives or friends. Fewer than 2 
percent of the incidents were the result of children trespassing on 
property where they did not belong. Seventy-seven percent of the 
victims had been missing for 5 minutes or less when they were found.
    The speed with which swimming pool drownings and submersions can 
occur is a special concern. Toddlers are inquisitive and impulsive and 
lack a sense of danger. In addition, the incidents are silent; it is 
unlikely that splashing or screaming will occur to alert a parent or 
caregiver that a child is in trouble.
    From this information as well as information on child development 
and behavior, CPSC staff concluded that the best way to reduce child 
drownings in residential pools is for pool owners to construct and 
maintain barriers that prevent young children from gaining access to 
pools. CPSC staff believes that barriers help overcome the short lapses 
in supervision that are often associated with submersion incidents. In 
1994, CPSC published Safety Barrier Guidelines for Home Pools 
(available on CPSC's Web site at http://www.cpsc.gov.) Since that time, 
CPSC has continued to stress the importance of a primary barrier in 
addition to other layers of protection and has stressed the need for 
close supervision of young children in and around the water. CPSC staff 
has studied pool alarms and worked on voluntary standards for fencing, 
pool and spa safety covers, door alarms, and pool alarms. CPSC has 
conducted annual public outreach on child drowning prevention.
    In 1998, CPSC published Guidelines for Entrapment Hazards: Making 
Pools and Spas Safer (available at http://www.cpsc.gov.) These 
guidelines provide safety information that will help identify and 
address potential entrapment hazards in swimming pools, wading pools, 
spas, and hot tubs. They address the hazards of evisceration/
disembowelment, body entrapment, and hair entrapment/entanglement. The 
CPSC has recently circulated a draft revision to these guidelines and 
is responding to comments. These Guidelines emphasize layers of 
protection. In addition, CPSC staff has worked to develop or revise 
voluntary standards for suction fittings and Safety Vacuum Release 
Systems (``SVRS''). CPSC has also provided the public with information 
about suction entrapments and how to prevent them.
    In 2003, CPSC set a new strategic goal to reduce the rate of 
swimming pool and other at-home drownings of children under 5 years old 
by 10 percent from the 1999-2000 annual average by the year 2013. The 
information that we gather at this public hearing will help CPSC 
develop plans for further work in the area of swimming pool safety.

B. The Public Hearing

    The purpose of the public hearing is to provide a forum for oral 
presentations concerning swimming pool safety, specifically drownings 
of children under 5 years old in residential swimming pools and suction 
entrapment and entanglement deaths and injuries. The Commission intends 
to hold another public field hearing on swimming pool safety in 
Phoenix, Arizona on Tuesday, July 23, 2004.
    The Commission requests comments from interested stakeholders and 
citizens on the following specific areas of interest:
    1. Data on drowning and near-drowning in residential swimming pools 
and spas.
     In your locale, how many child drowning and 
near-drowning incidents do you see on an annual basis? How many suction 
entrapments and entanglements?
     What were the circumstances involved in these 
incidents?
     What trends in drowning and entrapment incidents 
have you seen in recent years?
     Have you seen any correlation between drowning 
intervention activities (for example, new barrier requirements, safety 
campaigns, etc.) and changes in the number of incidents and deaths?
     Are there ways in which the incident reporting 
process could be improved?
     In general, is the available incident 
information adequate for a thorough and accurate evaluation of the 
hazard scenarios involved?
     What data needs still exist?
    2. Regional/local pool barrier codes, laws, and regulations.
     What law or guideline has been adopted in your 
region/locale?
     What does is require?
     When was it enacted?
     What was the source building code?
     Which agency has jurisdiction?
     What enforcement exists?
    3. Effectiveness of pool barriers and other protective products.
     What evidence can you provide to demonstrate the 
effectiveness of protective products such as pool fencing, pool and/or 
door alarms, pool covers, etc?
     Which protective products do you think are the 
most effective?
     What factors do you think contribute to 
consumers using or not using these products?
     What research, if any, do you think needs to be 
done in this area?
    4. Educational approaches.
     In your locale, what public information 
approaches have been used to address pool drowning hazards?
     To whom were these approaches targeted?
     What tasks were involved in carrying out these 
efforts?
     Which approaches worked, and which did not?
     What dollar resources were involved?
    5. Role for CPSC.
     What role should CPSC take to help address child 
drownings and entrapment and entanglement injuries?
    Participation in the hearing is open. See the DATES section of this 
notice for

[[Page 24589]]

information on making requests to give oral presentations at the 
hearing.

    Dated: April 29, 2004.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 04-10163 Filed 5-3-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P