Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

[Amati]

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar...++lagoon+death

In today's Advertiser, "The family of a 56-year old Honolulu man today sued the Hilton Hawaiian Village, saying that his death was caused by injuries suffered when he got caught in the suction of the drain of the newly rebuilt Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon in Waikiki.” The man was swimming at the lagoon when he was trapped by the strong suction and flat underwater drain gate, less than five feet below the surface.

This brings to memory another lawsuit in Hawaii. Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park was sued as the result of an 18 year old man who drowned there in Sept 2000. The lawsuit said the swimmer was in the "catch pool" of the Big Kahuna feature at the water park when he was sucked into or pinned against the intake pipe of the water circulation system, resulting in his death by drowning.

Drownings and injuries from suction in pools are not uncommon. In a July 2008 online article, it was reported that since 1985 there have been more than 150 reported cases of swimming pool drain entrapments, leading to at least 48 deaths and many serious injuries, including disembowelment of children and adults.

Drowning is the second leading cause of injury related deaths to children 14 years old and younger, and in many incidents (involving both adults and children) the main culprit is the water circulation system in pools and hot tubs.

What can we learn from this recent incident? Professionals say that in most instances wherein a victim becomes stuck to an intake of a circulation system, rescuers fail to realize the need to immediately shut off the pump. Instead, in a panic, people tend to go to the victim and attempt prying them free.

We all need to keep that in mind - shut off the pump!

[SusieMisajon]

Re: Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

Keep all long hair pulled back and well away from any drains.

[matapule]

Re: Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

I know a little bit about swimming pools since I have constructed about 120 of them 4 or 5 years ago in California.

California has very strict specifications for pool construction, both public and private (just more of that "government intervention" that some people like to complain about). We are required to install anti-vortex suction and return lines and covers to prevent the kinds of deaths that have occured in Hawai'i. These standards are more expensive to construct and result in higher pool prices in California, but what kind of a price tag can you put on a human life?

One of my clients was Jack Nicklaus the professional golfer. He and his wife Barbara had a grandchild drown in their backyard swimming pool in Florida, two years before I built his pool in California. It was a difficult situation for me, trying to be sensitive to their grieving, while assuring him that the pool would be constructed in such a way to prevent potential accidents.

There is something very wrong with pool construction standards in Hawai'i if drowning continues to occur as a result of drains! Governemnt can serve a very real and useful purpose to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the unsuspecting public.

[Ron Whitfield]

Re: Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

Seems the hotel hasn't even bothered to post sings or a guard near the drain to prevent another tragedy. Hopefully the court will nail them huge.

And what will it take for those who can enact measures to help insure against these horrible occurances? The son is often standing vigil to keep swimmers aware.
Why was the hotel SO neglegent to an obvious hazard? Will this recent death promote anything from our politicians?

Absolutely pathetic.

[LikaNui]

Re: Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

There's a fairly new federal law that requires public swimming pools to install a new system that includes a modified drain cover and also an automatic emergency shutoff switch. There's a sensor that recognizes when the drain is suddenly clogged and it immediately shuts off the suction. I'll try to find a link in a little while.
The new federal law came about because of huge public outcry after the drowning of a small child, a five-year-old girl, as I recall.

[pzarquon]

Re: Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

The swimmer that died was paralyzed from the waist down, and probably had a much more significant challenge avoiding, and getting disengaged from, the drain than most people.

I still remember, as a small kid, getting briefly "stuck" on a drain in a backyard pool. Skimming along the bottom, my thigh locked into the opening. It only held for two seconds, tops, and I easily pulled away, but that brief second of panic stays with me. The solution was, back then, just to warn kids in the future to watch out for it.

At the Hilton, I think there is now, if it wasn't there previously, a buoy at the surface marking the drain's location. But considering the sheer volume of the lagoon and of the large drain element, I do wonder why some kind of simple cage wasn't built over it. Hell, just sink a shark cage over the top. It won't stop fish and flippers and trash from getting caught, but it'd stop people from getting too close.

[LikaNui]

Re: Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

There's a fairly new federal law that requires public swimming pools to install a new system that includes a modified drain cover and also an automatic emergency shutoff switch. There's a sensor that recognizes when the drain is suddenly clogged and it immediately shuts off the suction. I'll try to find a link in a little while.
The new federal law came about because of huge public outcry after the drowning of a small child, a five-year-old girl, as I recall.

Okay, here's the link: http://www.poolsafety.gov/vgb.html .

[Ron Whitfield]

Re: Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

The swimmer that died was paralyzed from the waist down, and probably had a much more significant challenge avoiding, and getting disengaged from, the drain than most people.

I read that it took three people to get him off the drain. These things can exert a LOT of suction power. How they can still be constucted without hazard protections is baffling.

[Amati]

Re: Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

I read that it took three people to get him off the drain. These things can exert a LOT of suction power.

http://www.examiner.com/x-8151-Charl...-can-be-deadly

NBC’s Nightly News last night (July 19, 2009) highlighted the issue of banned swimming pool drain covers that are still being used in public pools; defined as all pools outside of private homes.
The old, flat drain covers can pull as much as 800 pounds of deadly suction force, enough to kill a child, and they have.
Hotel and motel chains with pools around the country have been checked and roughly half are noncompliant with the 2008 law that mandates the new, rounded, safer, drain covers. This means literally thousands of public pools have illegal drains

[surlygirly]

Re: Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

Ugh. This was one of my biggest fears as a kid. I overheard my sisters talking about it once and from then on, I stayed as far away from pool drains as possible.

Just out of curiousity and not to sound too dumb- why is the drain sucking anything if the pool isn't being drained? Do they constantly drain a litle bit all the time to regulate the water level? Cuz as an adult I'd sit in the hot tub at our old apartment complex all the time and you couldn't help stepping on the three drains- and I never felt any suction. Same with that pool.

[tutusue]

Re: Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

[...]
Just out of curiousity and not to sound too dumb- why is the drain sucking anything if the pool isn't being drained?[...]

With regard to the HHV lagoon, as I understand it, the water is constantly circulating to and from the ocean to keep the lagoon clean. It's being sucked out as well as sucked in, I guess.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

With regard to the HHV lagoon, as I understand it, the water is constantly circulating to and from the ocean to keep the lagoon clean. It's being sucked out as well as sucked in, I guess.

Yep. The Hilton lagoon situation is quite different from that of conventional swimming pools.

Whatever measures are taken to safeguard against swimmer entrapment, it can't interfere with providing for a safe level of water quality in the lagoon. An inadequate circulation system could lead to problems like skin boils and ear/eye infections.... any of which could also lead to lawsuits. (Which, incidentally, has always been a problem for the archaic Waikiki Natatorium throughout its existence. A not-so-insignificant thing that proponents for preservation keep forgetting.)

[matapule]

Re: Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

Just out of curiousity and not to sound too dumb- why is the drain sucking anything if the pool isn't being drained?

Swimming Pool Technology 101

Actually the cover is over a SUCTION line. Pool water is pumped (sucked) from the pool through a suction line to the filters where the water is filtered and then pumped back to the pool through a RETURN line. A valve at the filters can be activated to bypass the filter and DISCHARGE the water to waste as a drain line when necessary.

Suction lines are at the bottom of the pool and return lines are usually at or near the pool waterline. It is very important to install anti-vortex covers over the suction lines to prevent accidents.

I am not familiar with the specific plumbing at the HHV lagoon.

[matapule]

Re: Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

Cuz as an adult I'd sit in the hot tub at our old apartment complex all the time and you couldn't help stepping on the three drains- and I never felt any suction. Same with that pool.

Perhaps the filtration system was turned off when you were using the pool. In the typical backyard pool or small public pool, as in an apartment complex, the filtration system is on a timer and typically operates 4 to 5 hours per day, often times programmed to operate only in the middle of the night, to prevent this sort of accident. In larger public pools with use by many people, the filtration system will be programmed to operate as much as 24 hours a day.

[surlygirly]

Re: Caution: Pool drains are dangerous

Thank you for taking the time to explain, Matapule. Now I understand the above situations a whole lot better! And now I can go back to being afraid of the drain.