CPSC Awards Five Pool Safely Grants to Combat Pool and Spa Drownings and Drain Entrapments

December 11, 2015

December 11, 2015 – U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Chairman Elliot F. Kaye and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) announced today the awardees of a first-of-its-kind grant program aimed at preventing pool and spa drownings and drain entrapments. Five local governments will receive more than $780,000 in Pool Safely Grant Program (PSGP) funds.  This funding will provide assistance to local governments for education, training, and enforcement of pool safety requirements that are intended to save lives and prevent serious injuries.

Fiscal Year 2016 Pool Safely Grant Program Awards

“Every year, too many children across America drown.  Drowning is the #1 cause of unintentional death to children ages 1-4,” said Chairman Kaye.  “This is a public health crisis.  We need to do far more to stop these preventable deaths.  Toward that end, I am proud to announce that CPSC has, for the first time in our history, awarded grant funds.  More importantly, the funds that we are providing to five great communities will advance our cause to address the terrible deaths and injuries associated with drowning and drain entrapments.  I want to thank Rep. Wasserman Schultz and the Congress for appropriating funds to CPSC to work with state and local officials to educate the public about the risk of drowning and to enforce pool safety laws in their community.”

“Throughout my career I have been a passionate advocate for pool and spa safety.  We must do more to stop these preventable tragedies, and I know that these grants, the first under the Virginia Graeme Baker Act, are an important step towards saving more children’s lives,” said Rep.  Wasserman Schultz. “My overall goal is to reduce the number of child drownings across the country. We can get there by teaching children to swim, ensuring pools have the right safety equipment, and educating parents on the critical importance of supervising children in and near the water.”

The grant program is authorized through the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, (VGB Act), which Rep. Wasserman Schultz authored and led, and that Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law in December 2007. The PSGP seeks to provide state and local governments with assistance for education, training, and enforcement of pool safety requirements.

CPSC is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of the thousands of types of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard. CPSC’s work to ensure the safety of consumer products – such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals – contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years.

To learn more about the Pool Safely Grant Program and the VGB Act visit PoolSafely.gov.  This site has a broad array of free, downloadable information for the general public, state and local officials, the swimming pool and spa community, and the media.