U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) announced five awardees of a grant program aimed at preventing pool and spa drownings, as well as drain entrapments. The state and local governments were selected by CPSC to receive more than $1.3 million in Pool Safely Grant Program (PSGP) grant funds. This funding will provide state and local governments with assistance for education, training and enforcement of pool safety requirements that are intended to save lives and prevent serious injuries.
“Drowning remains the number one cause of death for children ages one to four,” says CPSC Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric. “These grant funds are an essential element in our work to protect children, by providing lifesaving safety information to communities, and helping these communities enforce pool safety requirements.”
“I have long been a passionate advocate for pool and spa safety, and that will not stop. We must do more to stop these preventable tragedies, and these grants are one of the key steps we can take to help save more children’s lives,” says Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz. “My goal is to reduce child drownings across the country, and we can do it 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 Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (VGBA), which Rep. Wasserman Schultz authored and led, was passed by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush in December 2007. The VGBA authorizes the PSGP, which provides state and local governments with assistance for education, training and enforcement of pool safety requirements.
CPSC’s website has more information on the Pool Safely Grant program and the VGBA as well as free, downloadable educational materials available to the public.
