Health, Safety Violations Found At Thousands Of Public Pools

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Before heading out to your favorite pool or hot tub, make sure to check out its safety inspection report.

Serious health and safety violations force thousands of public pools, hot tubs and water playgrounds to close annually, according to a report in the Centers for Disease Control's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

"No one should get sick or hurt when visiting a public pool, hot tub, or water playground," Beth Bell, M.D., M.P.H., director of CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, said in a statement.

The study included inspection data collected in 2013 from five states with the most public pools and hot tubs – Arizona, California, Florida, New York and Texas. Data was from 84,187 routine inspections of 48,632 public aquatic venues, including pools, hot tubs, water playgrounds and other places where people swim in treated water.

According to the report, most inspections of public aquatic venues identified at least one violation and one in eight inspections prompted an immediate closure because of serious health and safety violation. The worst offenders involved kiddie/wading pools – one out of five were closed after an inspection, the highest proportion of closures among all inspected venues.

Michele Hlavsa, chief of the CDC's Healthy Swimming Program, says almost one third of local health departments do not regulate, inspect or license public pools, hot tubs and water playgrounds.

"We should all check for inspection results online or on site before using public pools, hot tubs, or water playgrounds and do our own inspection before getting into the water," Hlavsa said in a statement.

The report was released in recognition of Healthy and Safe Swimming Week, which begins Monday. For more information and other safe swimming steps, visit www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swimming.