[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 111 (Wednesday, June 9, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32330-32331]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-12959]


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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 Phoenix, 
Arizona, on Tuesday, July 27, 2004 to obtain information and views from 
the public concerning swimming pool safety. This will be the second 
field hearing the Commission is having on 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 Tuesday, July 27, 2004, from 9 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 July 13, 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 July 13, 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 August 27, 2004.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at Phoenix City Council Chambers, 
200 West Jefferson Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85003. Requests to make 
oral presentations, and texts of oral presentations should be captioned 
``Swimming Pool Hearing; Phoenix'' 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, DC 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].

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' 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 increase the time for adults 
to intervene and prevent submersion incidents. In 1994, CPSC published 
Safety Barrier Guidelines for Home Pools (available on CPSC's Web site 
at 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

[[Page 32331]]

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 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 by the year 2013 from the 1999-2000 annual average of 
250. 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 is 
holding another public field hearing on swimming pool safety in Tampa, 
Florida on Monday, June 21, 2004. A notice concerning that hearing was 
previously published in the Federal Register on May 4, 2004. 69 FR 
24587.
    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 it 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 information on making requests to give oral presentations at 
the hearing.

    Dated: June 2, 2004.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 04-12959 Filed 6-8-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P