The Pool Guy

I just returned from teaching a class on the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act for the State of Tennessee's Department of Health, Division of Environmental Health's Upper Cumberland Region. The attendees were great and asked very good questions. We had approximately 30 owner/operators and around a dozen inspectors.

We covered the basics of the new VGB Act, who is qualified to do this type of assessment and work, what to expect from the Tennessee Health Inspectors, what it means to fully comply with the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (VGBP&SSA), and what you should expect if you do not comply.

We also discussed various solutions for VGB Act compliance for both dual and single main drains, comparing the Vac-Alert, Stingle and The Emotron PSP20, (which I favor by far the most).

Everyone seemed to find it very informative and were appreciative.

I will be teaching another seminar inconjuction with the State of Tennessee's Department of Health in Greeeneville, TN on April 22, 2009. If you would like to attend, please contact me at service@callthepoolguy.com.

Well the pool season is upon us and many people are beginning to consider when to open their pool. My experience and knowledge leads me to recommend an earlier than May opening date. There are quite a few reasons for this, so I'll just list a few.

I just received notification from APSP the CPSC is prepared to release their guidelines regarding the effect of the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act on residential portable Hot Tubs and Spas. See the release below:

"Over the winter holiday, APSP was in constant communication with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in an effort to learn when the agency would release the VGB Act guidelines for portable residential hot tubs. As of January 5, CPSC Compliance support staff indicated that FAQ’s (guideline direction) for portable hot tubs have been written and the document is awaiting final approval. CPSC expects to post the approved FAQs on their website soon. APSP believes that the CPSC is in a position to release its guidance document now that the agency on December 24 announced its position on the CPSIA--Lead in toys (Consumer Product Safety Information Act (not related to portable hot tubs)."

We have all been waiting to see how this will effect the consumer and our industry. I'll let you know as soon as I have more information. Hopefully, this will end much of the speculation within our industry.