Pool Drain Cover Recall Issued by 8 Manufacturers Over Entrapment Risks

Drain covers used in pools across the country are rated incorrectly, which could potentially cause swimmers to become entrapped and drown, federal product safety officials warn. 

Just days before Memorial Day weekend and the start of the summer season, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced a pool drain cover recall affecting about 1 million pool drain covers from at least eight different manufacturers.

The CPSC reports that the recalled drain covers have incorrect ratings on the amount of water flow the covers can handle. There have been no reports of injuries or pool drowning deaths related to the recalled pool covers.

Many public pools throughout the United States may be impacted by the recall, possibly preventing some of them from being open for the Memorial Day holiday because they cannot replace the recalled pool drain covers in time.

The pool drain cover recall affects covers by 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. Most of the pool covers were sold from December 2009 through April 2011, except for the covers by Pentair Water Pool & Spa, which were sold from June 2009 through April 2011.

The pool drain covers where sold through independent distributors to professional pool and spa builders and installers. The manufacturers will have to cover the labor costs of replacing the pool covers, which could otherwise cost pool operators hundreds of dollars.

The recall comes following a CPSC investigation into pool and spa drain cover safety announced March 18. The investigation was launched after the CPSC became concerned that laboratories that certified the pool drain covers were using incorrect testing protocols.

Under the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (P&SSAct) of 2007, public pools and spas have to have drain covers that are certified as being designed to prevent entrapment. The law was enacted to prevent swimmers, particularly children, from becoming trapped by suction from a pool or spa drain or other opening that could result in death by drowning.

A report on pool and spa accidents (pdf) released last year by the CPSC stated that there was an average of 4,200 pool or spa-related emergency room-treated submersion injuries each year from 2007 through 2009. The report also found that there were about 385 pool or spa related deaths per year from 2005 through 2007, when the P&SSAct was passed. The law went into effect in December 2008. 

Nearly half of all pool and spa-related injuries happen to children under the age of three. Children under the age of 15 represented 53% of all pool and spa fatalities from 2005 through 2007.