Suction Inlets

- hidden death-traps

Pool pump suction

  • The suction developed by a pool-pump is proportional to the size of the pump but even a small pump can produce enough suction to trap a bather beneath the water resulting in drowning, or to injure or kill a bather should they come into contact with an uncapped Vacuum Point

 

 

 

Consider installing a safety cut-out that opens the suction line to atmosphere instantly in the case of blockage

 

Safety Vacuum Release Systems (SVRS) sense suction line blockage and automatically shut the pump off, or open the suction line to atmosphere

The instantaneous response breaks the vacuum and allows an entrapped swimmer to escape

Safety Vacuum Release Systems provide an important layer of protection against entrapment and death

Vac-AlertVac-Alert is one system that works very well 

 

 Main Drain

Pool entrapment Injury

  • Since 1985, more than 150 cases of swimming pool drain entrapment have been reported in the USA alone
  • There have been at least 48 deaths over that same period in the USA
  • The entrapments also have caused many serious injuries, including disembowelments of children and adults
  • Pools should have a minimum of 2 main drains, separated from each other so that one person could not possibly block both main drains at the same time, or a main drain grille that has been designed to prevent entrapment, like the one shown below
  • It is vitally important that main drains have the correct grilles securely installed
  • At the first sign of any damage to the grille - replace it
  • Main drain grilles (plastic) should be routinely replaced after 3 - 4 years

 

Please take the time to read this Wikipedia pagethis Wikipedia page

Death of Abigail Taylor

  • On June 29, 2007, Abigail Taylor's parents took her to the Minneapolis Golf Club in St. Louis Park, Minnesota
  • Everyone was leaving the wading pool when Abigail Taylor accidentally fell on the open drain of the pool and her buttocks were sucked into the aperture
  • The suction dislodged a large section of her small intestine which was forcefully drawn out through the anus, a phenomenon known as transanal evisceration
  • The incident was similar to a 1993 incident in North Carolina involving Valerie Lakey, who was five years old at the time

Injury and subsequent death

  • Abigail lost 6.5 meters (21 feet) of her small intestine in the accident, leaving her with short bowel syndrome
  • Following the accident, Abigail was hospitalized and received a rare triple organ transplant to replace her small intestine, liver, and pancreas, all of which were damaged in the accident
  • She was unable to eat or drink, and she required total parenteral nutrition
  • Abigail died nine months after the accident from a transplant-related cancer
  • She was just six years old at the time of her death

Vacuum Point

  • Fit the safety-cap to the vacuum point when it is not in use for pool-cleaning, to prevent accidents

  • Suction at the vacuum point is easily strong enough to pull a small child’s’ arm into the pipe-work or to cause instant disembowelment and death to both children and adults
  • Even a momentary contact with a vacuum point that has been left open and un-capped can cause severe bruising of the skin
  • In an horrific incident in recent times a child put her mouth over a vacuum point that had been accidentally left un-capped with the vacuum valve left open
  • Her lungs and stomach were instantly inverted and pulled into the suction line and the poor child died instantly
  • Are you shocked by this vision?
  • I'm truly sorry if I distressed you (but perhaps now you'll remember to turn the vacuum valve off and fit the safety cap?)

 

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Ken Walker - MyPoolGuru©