ASSEMBLY, No. 2253

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED JULY 18, 1996

By Assemblymen CORODEMUS and T. SMITH

An Act concerning the safety of certain wading pool units and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. The Commissioner of Health shall by regulation require that any wading pool, operated by a for-profit or non-profit entity or a unit of government and equipped with a suction outlet system, shall have a minimum of two suction outlets for each pump in the system. These suction outlets shall be designed, installed and placed in a manner that will minimize risk of injury to children using the pools in accordance with either industry or Consumer Product Safety Commission recommendations or a combination thereof which will, in the judgment of the Commissioner, afford the greatest protection. This requirement shall apply to units installed before, on and after the effective date of this act.

    2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fifth month after enactment, except that upon enactment, the commissioner may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.

STATEMENT

    This bill directs the Commissioner of Health to require by regulation that wading pools operated by commercial, non-profit and governmental organizations and agencies have at least two suction outlets per pump. A number of young children have been disemboweled when they sat over broken or missing drain covers and formed a seal creating a sharp rise in the vacuum at those sites. As little as a two pounds per square inch pressure differential applied for a second or two at the drain could create such a condition, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. More of these near fatal accidents may be expected to occur in such childrens' pools without the existence of a second suction outlet.

    This bill is a companion to the Assembly Committee Substitute for Assembly Bill Nos. 2059 and 2141 which requires accessible switches for emergency control of hot tub suction outlets.

Directs Commissioner of Health to require at least two suction outlets per pump in non-residential wading pools with suction outlet systems.