By The Pool & Hot Tub Association The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act Resource Guide
The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act (VGB Act) was enacted by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush on December 19, 2007, with the goal of preventing drownings in pools and spas. It addresses fencing, alarms, and the hazard of suction entrapment, by mandating all suction outlets (main drain covers, mounting hardware, and sumps) to be 3rd-party certified, and that the drain covers have not exceeded their installed service life. It also requires public pools and spas with single, blockable drains to be equipped with a secondary system designed to prevent suction entrapment.
Compliance with the law was mandatory as of December 19, 2008.
The law addresses private and public pools. Residential drain covers/ Suction Outlet Fitting Assembly (SOFAs) must comply when they are installed and replaced. Public pools require retroactive suction system upgrades. The VGB Act provides financial incentives to state and local jurisdictions that adopt and enforce VGB Act policies for all private pools and spas.
All drain covers, riser rings, supports, fasteners, and mounting hardware must be tested, and 3rd-party certified to ASME/ANSI A112.19.82007. The designation changed in mid-2008 when the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) requested the standard be transferred to another Standard Development Organization (SDO), and that process was completed in 2011 with the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals (APSP) becoming the new SDO. The name changed to ANSI/APSP 16-2011 without altering any requirements at that time. During the transition, manufacturers were instructed to mark newly certified products with VGB-2008. As a result, certified drain covers/SOFAs were marked with one or more of the following: ASME/ANSI A112.19.8 (2007, 2008a, or 2009b), VGB-2008, or ANSI/APSP 16-2011.
Not all drain covers/SOFAs require one of these marks, as the standard provides for a non-manufactured type of unblockable suction outlet called a Field Fabricated Outlet. These large area grates are designed and certified by a Registered Design Professional (RDP) using conventional building materials, manufactured drain cover/SOFA components, or custom fabrication (i.e., weldments).
The RDP is the certifier of Field Fabricated Outlets, with VGB Act compliance demonstrated through a written report that must be kept at the facility to show proof of full compliance.
The drain cover standard was revised in 2017 to remain in conformance with American National Standards Institute (ANSI) essential requirements that apply to all ANSI standards. The title of the updated standard is ANSI/APSP/ICC-16 2017. The revision was accepted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) as being in the public interest, officially making it the VGB Act successor drain cover/SOFA standard under federal law.
The effective date was May 24, 2021. The delay from 2017's revision to the effective date of May 24, 2021, was to allow manufacturers and Registered Design Professionals time to comply with significant new documentation, field-built sump, and product marking requirements. The original 2008 effective date had been retroactive, while the most recently updated version applies as a rolling change.
This means that fully compliant VGB-2008 products manufactured and certified before May 24, 2021, remain compliant through their installed service life, provided they are not damaged or significantly discolored. Existing VGB-2008 products may be sold, distributed, and installed, while supplies last.
During the transition, it is very important to follow the design and installation instructions associated with the product in hand. While VGBA-2017 instructions can be applied to products certified to a VGB2008 standard, it is not permissible to use VGB-2008 instructions when installing VGBA-2017 products, even if the products appear identical. Like-for-like replacements are not automatically compliant under the revised federal drain cover/SOFA law. The VGBA-2017 standard defines a “drain cover” as a Suction Outlet Fitting Assembly, which is defined as “all components, including the cover/ grate, used to attach a cover/grate(s) to the finished surface of a pool and to an individual suction system.”
The revised standard further clarifies the legal difference between blockable and unblockable SOFAs, as a blockable SOFA cannot be used alone. Manufactured drain covers/ SOFAs will be marked 'blockable' or 'unblockable.' Knowing the difference is required to comply with federal law as blockable drains/SOFAs cannot be used alone for new construction. Also, existing public venues with an active single, blockable drain/SOFA require a secondary system designed to prevent suction entrapment that is authorized by the drain cover/SOFA manufacturer.
Many manufacturers only authorize their drain covers/SOFAs to be installed in dual-drain systems. VGB Act compliance requires following product-specific installation instructions for drain covers/SOFAs and secondary devices.
This includes confirming each replacement drain cover/SOFA is compatible with the existing sump (the space between the cover and the suction pipe).
Regardless of i t being a manufactured or field-built sump, the sump must meet minimum/maximum sump dimension and suction pipe sizespecific flow rating of the replacement drain cover/SOFA.
The VGBA-2017 includes two significant changes impacting public venues. The first is a simple name change from “Field Fabricated Outlet” to “Registered Design Professional SOFA.” This is to eliminate confusion between this type of suction outlet and “Field-built sumps.” The second is more important to understand and it also deals with field-built sumps. VGBA-2017 deleted the original sump option that authorized sump depths based on 1.5 times the pipe diameter without any testing.
These sumps are still allowed, but only after being tested, certified, and documented in the cover/SOFAspecific installation instructions. Diligently following sump depth, pipe size, and the associated flow rating limitations is important to address hair entanglement hazards because hair typically flows with the water through the cover, into the suction pipe.
This important child safety law strives to:
• Enhance the safety of public and private pools and spas.
• Reduce child drownings in pools and spas (each year, nearly 300 children younger than 5 drown).
• Reduce the number of suction entrapment incidents, injuries, and deaths.
• Educate the public on the importance of constant supervision of children in and around water.
• Encourage the use of multiple safety steps at all pools and spas.
Warning
Under the law, all public pools and spas must have ANSI/APSP-16 or subsequent compliant suction fittings installed. No pool or spa is safe if a drain cover is broken, missing, or cracked, and the pool should be closed until repairs can be made.
Additional Requirements for Safety Devices or Systems
The VGB Act states “each public pool and spa in the United States with a single main drain/SOFA other than an unblockable drain shall be equipped, at a minimum, with 1 or more of the following devices or systems designed to prevent entrapment by pool and spa drains/SOFAs:” 1. Safety vacuum release system (SVRS)—A safety vacuum release system that ceases operation of the pump, reverses the circulation flow, or otherwise provides a vacuum release at a suction outlet when a blockage is detected, that has been tested by an independent 3rd party and found to conform to ASME/ANSI standard A112.19.17 or ASTM standard F2387.
2. Suction-limiting vent system— A suction-limiting vent system with a tamper-resistant atmospheric opening.
3. Gravity drainage system—A gravity drainage system uses a collector tank.
4. Automatic pump shut-off system—A system that automatically shuts off the pump.
5. Drain disablement—A device or system that disables the drain.
6. Other systems—Any other system determined by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to be equally effective as, or better than, the systems described in (1) through (5) above at preventing or eliminating the risk of injury or death associated with pool drainage.
Note: States and subdivisions of states are permitted to limit these options or even specify which of the options are allowed as long as they do not make compliance with the act an impossibility.
Enforcement of the VGB Act
The VGB Act also strengthened the CPSC’s civil and criminal penalty authority, giving the agency the ability to shut down pools or spas that are not in compliance with the law. Visit www.poolsafely.gov to download the entire Pool & Spa Safety Act.
Both CPSC and state attorneys general are empowered to enforce the VGB Act. The CPSC is looks to state health and building officials to assist in enforcing the VGB Act. State law can be more restrictive than the federal law as long as the state does not make compliance impossible.
