The CPSC said it believes there have been nine deaths of children between 22 months old and 3 years old after the kids gained access to the pools through footholds created by the pools’ compression straps. The children’s deaths occurred between 2007 and 2022 in California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Texas and Wisconsin.
I was wondering how the strap could kill children, as it took my attention away from the pool filled with water
I was also confused and realized toddlers were using the straps to get into the pool when it should be designed to prevent that on ladder removal.
This is a design flaw and got rightfully recalled. Toddlers are little drunken suicide machines. Even during a family gathering they’ll run away going from 0-100 in no time flat. Hide around the corner and climb into the pool because they climb everything.
Terrible lives were lost on this.
Invredibly sad news but also feels like a huge regulation over reach. How do people leave their toddlers unattended to the point where they manage to climb this? “Can’t have nice things” sort of story here.
Who upvotes this braindead take?
What part of this do you see as regulation overreach?
Why would you not want a safer pool design???
Overreach? They are sending repair kits to the owners of the pools if they request them. The pool owners aren’t required to do anything and the company whose product played a role in the deaths of nine kids are just sending kits to improve the pool’s safety. This doesn’t sound super onerous for anyone involved.
Also, I’m guessing you don’t have kids if you think that even the most diligent parents can keep tabs on their kids all of the time. I keep a close eye on my toddler, but he certainly is able to get into mischief when I look away for a minute.
I doubt this would happen to me because I do watch extremely closely, but I can’t guarantee that a situation couldn’t come up in which my kid could escape my notice long enough to get into a pool. The numbers of incidents are low because most parents are diligent, but even diligent parents can have lapses.
Also, I’m guessing you don’t have kids if you think that even the most diligent parents can keep tabs on their kids all of the time.
Preach! My youngest is a runner with zero fear of being alone. We have had some flippin’ terrifying moments.
We are incredibly diligent but a runner’s gonna run.
…Have you tried a leash? (On a hand, not a neck. For safety.)
Exactly. 5 million pools are involved, and 9 deaths that aren’t all confirmed to be due to the straps.
In comparison, over 350 children under the age of 15 die every year in pools and spas in the US whereas the deaths related to these pools happened over a period of 15 years.
a wandering kid on a saturday afternoon could see the pool and be tempted. they don’t have to belong to the same person who owns the pool.
How about Friday evening?
oh no. fuck fridays. that’s our day off.
I could be wrong, but Im fairly certain most parents of 3 year olds dont let them wander the streets alone on Saturday afternoon
My man, just because you don’t let a kid do something, doesn’t mean the kid won’t do that something.
This is the Internet. We’ll use every edge case to make sure you’re wrong.
Yeah, safety standards and laws about putting fences around pools is totally an “internet thing”.
Fucking really?
Or we use experience as a first responder to give anecdotes.
The article didn’t mention anything about regulations though. Just that newer pools have found solutions to this issue and that the old ones are being recalled. It seems to be a choice that the company has made and not a regulation requirement
