The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announces a 90-day solicitation seeking applications for a special Pool Safely Grant Program offered to state and local governments. Applications will be accepted through May 14, 2020.
CPSC will award up to $2 million in two-year grants to assist jurisdictions in reducing deaths and injuries from drowning and drain entrapment incidents in pools and spas. The Pool Safely grant program is a part of CPSC's national campaign to make drowning and drain entrapment prevention a critical public safety priority.
The grant program is made possible through the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, legislation authored and advanced by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida). Congress passed the VGB Act, and President George W. Bush signed the measure into law in December 2007. The VGB Act seeks to provide state and local governments with assistance for education, training and enforcement of pool safety requirements.
“These grants can make a real difference and potentially save lives as communities work to educate consumers about drowning and entrapment dangers and enforce pool safety laws locally,” says CPSC Acting Chairman Robert Adler. “This funding will provide assistance to state and local programs in continuing this lifesaving work to reduce the risk of drowning.”
Applicants must be a state or local government or U.S. Territory that has an enacted or amended state and/or local law(s) that meet the requirements of the VGB Act (15 U.S.C. 8001), sections 1405 and 1406.
Prospective applicants are encouraged to review the solicitation on Grants.gov, under grant opportunity CPSC-20-001.
CPSC's website has supplemental information about the Pool Safely Grant Program and the VGB Act. Poolsafely.gov has a broad range of free, downloadable information for the general public, state and local officials, the swimming pool and spa community and the media.
The requirements of this child safety law have helped reduce the risk of drowning. The requirements include installing new safety drain covers and physical barriers, such as a fence completely surrounding the pool, with self-closing, self-latching gates and, if the house forms a side of the barrier, using alarms on doors leading to the pool area and/or a power safety cover over the pool. See additional pool safety tips here.
