The Pool and Spa Inspection Operators app provides detailed checklists that can be completed on a mobile device for the following areas: signs, safety features, chemicals, water clarity and general pool conditions, water circulation, pool facilities and general operation. This app also offers customization for pool or aquatic centers needs.
For more: http://www.gocanvas.com/mobile-forms-apps/8311-Hotel-Pool-Safety-Self-Inspection-Checklist-
“…the suit alleges Pheasant Run Resort and Spa, McArdle Ltd., and Oakbrook Hotels and Resorts should be held liable for the emotional distress caused to Carlos Escobar, who was 12 when he saw his stepbrother drown. Both lawsuits argue the resort failed to maintain the pool properly by 
not posting emergency numbers or installing a phone at the pool…”
A Belvidere teen, who saw a relative drown at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles more than five years ago, has sued the resort and hotel, claiming emotional distress. The suit, filed this month in Kane County court, is the second involving the Dec. 28, 2007, drowning of Javier Gonzalez, 21, of Garden Prairie, Ill.
A wrongful-death suit was filed in 2009 by the mother of the drowning victim. Daniel Murphy, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in both lawsuits, declined to comment.
The suit also claims the resort was cited by the DuPage County Health Department at least seven times for not having a buoyed safety rope dividing the shallow and deep sections of the pool, and did not have proper lifesaving equipment on the deck.
According to the suit, Gonzalez was playing in the pool with four relatives, ages 12 through 15, when he became distressed and sank face down to the bottom near the drain. There was no lifeguard on duty and the children frantically called for help before going to their parents’ rooms for assistance, the suit states.
A Pheasant Run employee could not locate any rescue equipment, and Gonzalez was underwater for at least five minutes, the suit said. He was eventually pulled from the water, but CPR did not work and he was pronounced dead on arrival at Delnor Hospital in Geneva. Both lawsuits seek more than $50,000 in damages.
For more: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20130321/news/703219793/?interstitial=1
Filed under Liability, Injuries, Risk Management, Management And Ownership, Guest Issues
The January 31, 2013 ADA pool lift compliance deadline is fast approaching. Petra Risk Solutions’ Loss Control Specialist, Marco Johnson, offers a P3 Hospitality Risk Update – ‘ADA Pool Lift Update’ – to help clear up some of the confusion about the requirements of this new ADA law.
P3 (Petra Plus Process) is the Risk Management Division of Petra Risk Solutions – America’s largest independent insurance brokerage devoted exclusively to the hospitality marketplace.
For more information on Petra and P3 visit petrarisksolutions.com or call 800.466.8951.
Filed under Guest Issues, Injuries, Insurance, Legislation, Liability, Maintenance, Pool And Spa, Risk Management, Training
“…the attorney for the hotel owner, said the pool area complied with state law and asked the jury to consider 
the responsibility borne by Robert Smith and his daughter when they entered the pool…”
A jury in Hackensack on Thursday determined that a hotel owner was not responsible for a near-drowning that left a Georgia man brain-injured after he tried to rescue his daughter from the hotel’s swimming pool.
The family of Robert A. Smith sued Ratan R. Park, LLC., owner of the Ramada Inn in Rochelle Park, for damages after Smith was overcome by water on July 4, 2009, when he tried to rescue his 11-year-old daughter, Brianna, after she drifted into the pool’s deep end.
Smith remains in a nursing home with permanent brain injuries that an attorney for Smith’s family said were the direct result of negligence by the hotel’s owner.
In the trial before Superior Court Judge Charles Powers, Attorney Greg Haddad had argued that the pool’s depth markings were inaccurate, its bottom was steeper than it should have been and the hotel owner failed to provide a “life line” separating the pool’s deep and shallow ends, presenting a “perfect storm” for guests who couldn’t swim.
Neither Smith nor his daughter could swim, and O’Hara in closing arguments on Wednesday in state Superior Court told the jury in the civil case that “both had a duty to exercise reasonable care; they had an obligation to make reasonable observations.”
Filed under Liability, Insurance, Training, Injuries, Maintenance, Pool And Spa, Claims, Guest Issues
“…the plaintiff’s attorney, said his clients’ case also is based on a claim that the hotel’s staff wasn’t prepared to handle a drowning emergency. Hotels aren’t required to employ lifeguards but they must designate someone 
as a “certified pool operator.” In this case, the pool operator, an assistant manager, was present when plaintiff went under…but because plaintiff was unresponsive on the pool bottom by the time the pool operator pulled Brianna out of the water, and because the pool operator himself couldn’t swim, he was unable to rescue Smith before he suffered brain damage…”
A Georgia man who suffered permanent brain damage while trying to save his daughter in a hotel swimming pool was the victim of negligent owners who failed to ensure the pool area was safe, a lawyer for the plaintiff said Monday during opening arguments in the civil trial.
Robert A. Smith, 40, was overcome by water on July 4, 2009, when he tried to save his 11-year-old daughter, Brianna, after she drifted into the deep end of the Ramada Inn poll in Rochelle Park. Safeguards that should have been in place – such as visual cues indicating the water’s depth and a “life line” separating the shallow and deep ends – were missing. In combination with a pool bottom that was steeper than it should have been, the result was a “perfect storm” for hotel guests who couldn’t swim, said Greg Haddad, an attorney for Smith’s family.
“This facility, its pool, were operated in a negligent manner,” Haddad told a jury in state Superior Court in Hackensack on Monday. “The focus of this company and these people was to make money at the complete disregard for [the safety of] customers.”
The family of Robert Smith, who remains in a “minimally-conscious state” in a nursing home, is suing the owner of the Ramada Inn, Ratan R. Park, LLC., for damages, said Haddad.
In a recording of the 911 call reporting the drowning, the caller tells the emergency operator, “Somebody’s drowning inside the water. … Nobody can swim here.” Eventually, another hotel guest dove in the water to save Smith.
Smith’s condition is stable, Haddad said, and his doctors believe he could live for another 20 or 25 years. His family is asking for at least enough money to cover his medical expenses, which will amount to $7 million over his lifetime if he is cared for at home, and $12 million if he remains in a nursing home, Haddad said.
“…The plaintiffs claim the hotel failed to sanitize the pool, fill it with clean water, use purification chemicals or “obtain proper certification of health & safety codes to reopen pool and water park facilities after pool closure.”
They seek medical costs, damages and punitive damages for premises liability, negligence, gross negligence, public nuisance and loss of consortium.
Nine people claim they contracted meningitis and/or other deadly diseases two years ago from a pool at the Grand Pacific Palisades Resort in Carlsbad. Lead plaintiff Gerald Green claim that during their stay in August 2010 the hotel failed to properly sanitize its family swimming pool. Plaintiff claim that hotel staff told them later that “the pool had been closed due to prior fecal or other form of contamination.”
“Plaintiffs were caused to sustain severe personal injuries, including, but not limited to symptoms of fever, headache, myalgias [muscle pain], vomiting and diarrhea, resulting in diagnoses to include meningitis and aggravated multiple sclerosis,” the complaint states.
Meningitis is a potentially fatal disease caused by inflammation of the protective membranes of the brain and spinal cord. Multiple sclerosis, which causes damage to nerves in the brain and spinal cord, is a debilitating disease with no known cure.
For more: http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/08/06/49015.htm
“…the Department of Justice (DOJ) last night announced a substantial postponement of the ADA compliance date for existing pools and spas with ADA requirements for accessible entries. The new compliance date – January 31, 
2013 – is more than an additional nine months beyond the original date of March 15, 2012…”
“The extension is fair and sensible and the lodging industry supports it,” said AH&LA President/CEO Joe McInerney.
AH&LA began its efforts immediately after DOJ first announced in a guidance dated January 31, 2012 that pool lifts used to provide accessible entries into existing pools and spas must be “fixed” unless not “readily achievable,” next to the pool/spa at all times when the facilities are open, and cannot be shared between two bodies of water even if they are in the same location. DOJ subsequently clarified that that “fixed” means attached to the pool deck in some way. This means that “portable” lifts brought out upon request would not be acceptable, raising new concerns among members about safety risks and costs posed by “fixed” lifts. The hospitality and business community viewed this announcement to be a significant change from the pool lift requirements issued by DOJ in its September 15, 2010 final regulations and began its intensive campaign to both reverse these substantive changes and delay the compliance date.
For more: http://www.ahla.com/pressrelease.aspx?id=34522&hq_e=el&hq_m=1729871&hq_l=1&hq_v=e98908d08d
The 2010 ADA Standards for pool access have significantly changed the requirements for municipal and private pools by requiring, for the first time, that they be equipped with independently useable pool lifts during all operating hours.
Since the DOJ announced its intention to require lifts in nearly all pools, the hotel industry and others have opposed or sought clarification of this provision.
In October, 2010, the American Hotel & Lodging Association sought clarification of the pool lift requirements which become mandatory on March 15, 2012. The AH&LA noted that pool lifts, particularly fixed devices, are potentially dangerous to users and children playing around pools. Moreover, they can be quite costly to most pool operators. The industry’s concerns apparently fell on deaf ears as evidenced by the DOJ’s position issued this week.
The DOJ has officially confirmed that:
For more: http://hotellaw.jmbm.com/2012/02/doj_flash_on_pool_lifts.html
Investigators say the hotel’s swimming pool heater leaked carbon monoxide sometime during the night, killing Moran and injuring at least 17 others. Carbon monoxide readings at the hotel reached 500 and 600 parts per million, South Charleston Fire Chief Greg Petry said. Authorities say any reading over 30 parts per million is cause for concern.
“…(a guest)… speculated that his death was caused by the swimming pool before investigators confirmed that carbon monoxide leaked from the pool’s heater…”
Staff members at the Holiday Inn Express in South Charleston were aware of a problem with their swimming pool 10 days before an apparent carbon monoxide leak from the pool’s heater killed one and injured several others Tuesday, two Randolph County women said this week.
Lori Burnside, 40, of Montrose, and Danielle Mallow, 38, of Elkins, stayed at the Corridor G hotel with their two daughters on Jan. 21, but said they did not get any sleep because the hotel’s fire alarms kept them awake during the night.
The alarms were blamed on a problem with the indoor swimming pool, they said, which had to be constantly ventilated by the hotel staff.
For more: http://wvgazette.com/News/201202040030?page=2&build=cache
“…The law requires drains to be fitted with larger covers and backup systems. It affects all public pools and spas, including those at apartment and condo complexes, hotels and health clubs…Since the law went into effect, the commission first removed the backup requirement, then reinstated it, bowing to pressure from the industry and then to safety advocates…”
Sunlight still bathes the mosaic tile, terra-cotta fountain and potted palms at the Hotel InterContinental’s iconic indoor pool. But no bathers ripple the water. Stuck in regulatory purgatory, the pool has been closed since October.
The junior Olympic-sized pool is one of the better-known in the city and once drew famous visitors like “Tarzan” star Johnny Weissmuller. Now, it’s among nearly 300 public pools across Illinois still listed as noncompliant with federal regulations designed to reduce the risk of swimmers being sucked into drains and drowning.
Hotel officials say their pool will reopen soon. And many of the other facilities are outdoors and would be closed in winter, anyway. But with so many affected sites, expensive fixes and delays in getting state approval, some pool operators wonder if they’ll be ready come spring.
For more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-pool-drains-update-20120115,0,7498748.story
Filed under Guest Issues, Health, Injuries, Insurance, Liability, Maintenance, Pool And Spa
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