The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (VGBA) is a United States law named after Virginia Graeme Baker, who died after sustaining a pool suction-drain injury in June 2002, when the suction from a spa drain entrapped her under the water.
Virginia Graeme Baker was a seven-year-old girl who drowned when she was trapped underwater by the powerful suction of a hot tub drain.
Although Graeme drowned, her official cause of death was "suction entrapment due to a faulty drain cover".
Following Graeme's death in June 2002, her mother, Nancy Baker, began work to advocate pool and spa safety.
She began lobbying Congress to pass legislation to require anti-entrapment drain covers as well as other pool and spa safety devices.
[3] Abigail Rose Taylor was a young girl from Edina, Minnesota, whose accidental injury and eventual death led to federal legislation to improve the safety of swimming pools.
The suction dislodged a large section of her small intestine, which was forcefully drawn out through the anus, a phenomenon known as transanal evisceration.
Taylor lost 6.5 meters (21 feet) of her small intestine in the accident, leaving her with short bowel syndrome.
Taylor was hospitalized and received a rare triple organ transplant to replace her small intestine, liver, and pancreas, all of which were damaged in the accident.
[12] A drain is defined as a plumbing fitting installed on the suction side of a pump in a pool, spa or hot tub.
[14] (2) Barrier — The term 'barrier' includes a natural or constructed topographical feature that prevents unpermitted access by children to a swimming pool, and, with respect to a hot tub, a lockable cover.
[14] There is a federal requirement for public pools that preempts the state or local law, as of December 19, 2008, and further regulations are in addition to it: Sec.
1404: Top Priority for Public Pool And Spa Owners/Operators All pool/spa drain covers manufactured, distributed or entered into commerce on or after December 19, 2008, must meet ASME/ANSI A112.19.8– 2007.
[13] Any person who knowingly manufactures, sells, distributes or imports a device of noncompliance shall face penalties up to the maximum of $1.825 million.
Criminal and civil penalties could also ensue if any person knowingly does not report the practice of another manufacturing, selling, distributing or importing a noncompliance product.