Tag Archives: Hot Tub

by | April 22, 2011 · 7:14 am

Hospitality Industry Pool Risks: Pennsylvania Hotel "Alcohol-Related" Hot Tub Death Highlights Dangers Of "After-Hours" Usage Of Pool And Hot Tub Rooms

“Management is now considering whether to prevent guests from being able to enter the room after hours…”

“…Hotel guests must use a plastic keycard to unlock a door to access the pool and hot tub room…Rules posted clearly on the door say it is open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and guests use the pool and hot tub “at their own risk,” 

Authorities have identified John Saviello, 42, of Bridgeport, Montgomery County, as the man who died after being found unresponsive in a city hotel hot tub.

Mr. Saviello’s death Wednesday morning was ruled accidental, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at Community Medical Center after being found in a hot tub at the Clarion Hotel on Meadow Avenue.

Mr. Saviello graduated from the University of Scranton in 1992, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in biology, university spokesman Stan M. Zygmunt said.

Why he was staying at the hotel or visiting the area was not clear on Thursday.

Authorities have not yet identified a 45-year-old woman who also was found unresponsive and intoxicated in the hot tub. She was OK after being taken to Community Medical Center, Scranton Police Chief Dan Duffy said.

Lackawanna County Coroner Tim Rowland said after an autopsy that the use of drugs and alcohol might have led to Mr. Saviello’s death, but results of a toxicology report will take several weeks.

In the hotel lobby on Thursday, assistant general manager Mark D’Angelo said the staff will review safety procedures in light of the incident.

“It’s a tragedy,” Mr. D’Angelo said. “We do have to learn from it, if there are any precautions we have to take.”

Hotel guests must use a plastic keycard to unlock a door to access the pool and hot tub room, Mr. D’Angelo said. Rules posted clearly on the door say it is open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and guests use the pool and hot tub “at their own risk,” he said.

Management is now considering whether to prevent guests from being able to enter the room after hours, Mr. D’Angelo said.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/victim-identified-in-hot-tub-drowning-1.1136101#ixzz1KGRJb400

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by | November 21, 2010 · 5:28 am

Hotel Spa Health Risks: Hotel Owners Found Liable In Death Of Man Who Contracted Legionnaire’s Disease In Hotel Hot Tub

“…evidence during the trial revealed the Alabama Department of Public Health determined Handley and Howard came into contact with Legionella bacteria because it was contained in the mist produced by the hotel’s hot tub. After the men became gravely ill from the disease, department investigators went to the hotel to examine the hot tub…”
A Calhoun County jury rendered a $4.5 million verdict Thursday evening against the owners of an Oxford hotel where two people contracted Legionnaires’ disease in 2008.

It took the jury less than an hour to reach the verdict in a civil lawsuit against Devi LLC, an Oxford-based company that owns the Oxford Fairfield Inn and Suites and Courtyard by Marriot. The Fairfield Inn, which was previously named Wingate Inn in 2008, was where the incident occurred.

The lawsuit was filed by Rodney Handley and Emanuel Howard, who alleged they contracted Legionnaires’ disease after using a Wingate hot tub in May 2008. Both men worked for Jefferson County and were in the area to assist in cleanup efforts after a tornado hit Heflin. The hot tub has since been removed from the building.

Handley died of a heart attack in January of this year at age 44, but his brother, Brent Handley, continued on with the lawsuit, said plaintiffs’ attorney Todd Wheeles.

Wheeles said evidence during the trial revealed the Alabama Department of Public Health determined Handley and Howard came into contact with Legionella bacteria because it was contained in the mist produced by the hotel’s hot tub. After the men became gravely ill from the disease, department investigators went to the hotel to examine the hot tub.

“They told the hotel to close the hot tub and lock it up,” Wheeles said. “However, the next morning, the staff goes in and cleans and disinfects the area … so when the ADPH gets back to get samples, the evidence was destroyed.”

Wheeles added that evidence showed hotel management provided incorrect maintenance records about the hot tub to the ADPH.

Read more: Anniston Star – Jury verdict nets 4 5 million from hotel owners

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