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New safety rules for Minnesota pools: Senate passes Abbey Taylor bill
The Minnesota Senate approved a bill Wednesday toughening safety standards for swimming pools, in response to the devastating injury which led to the death of an Edina girl. Abbey Taylor's father, Scott, came to the state Capitol Wednesday to draw attention to the measure shortly before senators began debating Minnesota's version of Abbey's law. "I vowed to Abbey that I would do everything that I could to make sure this didn't happen to anybody else," Taylor told reporters, "This is another step in the right direction." His six-year-old daughter died March 20th, of complications from a triple organ transplant in Omaha. That surgery was an attempt to repair the severe injuries she suffered when the suction from pool drain she sat on tore out much of her intestinal tract. Abbey's horrific accident last June, in a golf club wading pool, already inspired federal legislation requiring automatic shut-off devices in pool drains. During her courageous eight-month battle for survival, Abbey urged her parents to go public with her story to help make something good out of the tragedy. "What all this does is bring it to the forefront," Taylor said of the publicity surrounding Abbey's accident and her fight to cling to her young life. "So that we now are hopefully aware there's that danger out there at the bottom of the pool." What Abbey's Law would do The state's version of the Abigail Taylor Pool Safety Law would be more far reaching in scope, requiring all pool operators in the state to bring their drainage covers up to current standards by June of this year and to physically inspect them daily to ensure they're still intact. "Physical inspections are so very important," Taylor said, "You just can't see it. You can't know it's secure or mounted properly. You need to get into the pool." The measure would also require unblockable drains would in all pools. And any pool that uses powered suction, as opposed to a natural gravity drain, would need to be upgraded to include a second backup drain to relief pressure on a blocked drain. Wading pools would have until 2009 to comply with those equipment changes, while pools deeper than four feet would have until 2011 to come into compliance. The Minnesota Department of Health's John Linc Stine, said wading pools are more of an urgent concern because they're shallow enough to allow children to sit on a drain for longer periods of time, because their heads are above water. "These operators are already required by law to check the chemistry or the chlorine content of the water every day," Stine said, "This law reinforces the issue of the drain covers, and we do require you to get in the water or use a device to physically grab onto it to make sure it's properly installed." Stine said the bill would cover 4,000 pools at city parks, health clubs, apartment buildings and hotels. Only pools at single-family homes would be exempt from the new regulations. Day to day As for the family's situation, since the loss of Abbey, Scott Taylor said the grief been more profound than anything he could've imagined before she died. "We're just day by day," Taylor said, "We're all struggling with not having Abbey around and this is something that keeps me busy. It's something I want to do, and something I'm committed to doing." The sponsor of the bill, Senator Geoff Michel of Edina, said it would be a very tough day for those who've followed Abbey's tragedy. "When I introduced this bill I fully expected Abby to here today, watching from the gallery as we passed the bill. It's hard." Senator Michel applauded the Taylor family's devotion to the cause of saving other children from going through what Abbey did. "I'm so impressed with this man even being able to stand before you and come before all these cameras," Michel said as he stood next to Taylor, "This is the father of the year and the lobbyist of the year." The bill passed Wednesday afternoon on a voice vote, after some debates over costs to local cities of retrofitting their existing pools in time to make the 2009 deadline. Time buffer deleted from bill When the bill arrived on the Senate floor it contained exemptions allowing local government more time to raise the money needed for bringing pools up to code. That clause was stripped from the bill, over the objections of Senator Linda Berglin of Minneapolis. "We're giving local units of government time to build it into their budget," Berglin told colleagues, predicting a backlash next session over pools that are closed for lack of funds to install the new drains. She predicted the cost of retrofitting a pool with dual drains at $15,000, while others guessed it could run as low as $5,000. "We tried but couldn't come up with money here to help them," Berglin explained, "All this language did was to say if we aren't able to find the money we don't impose the standards without giving local government time they need to adjust their budgets." The Health Department's Stine said many government-owned pools are already in compliance. For example, in Minneapolis 58 of the 61 city pools won't need upgrades because they have gravity drainage systems. The pools at Pearl Park, Loring Park and Fuller Park would require major work to conform to the new pool safety code, Stine said. And Taylor said most people would rather see those pools close until they're redone. "I would hate for anyone else's child to be hurt during those two years while they're finding the money to fix the pools," Taylor told reporters, "If they're not safe, they're not safe." A similar version of the bill is moving on a parallel track through the Minnesota House. While Abbey's injury, an intestinal evisceration, is fairly rare the new laws are also expected to prevent drowning deaths caused by children getting hair or clothing trapped in pool drain suction. And Taylor wants to carry his campaign to other states and to private organizations that train lifeguards, to make sure they know how to shut off the pool drainage system in the case of a kid that is trapped.
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