What Florida law requires of a new residential pool

The condition on a certificate of completion

Section 515.27(1) requires a new residential pool to have at least one listed feature in order to pass final inspection and receive a certificate of completion. The five options are a barrier meeting s. 515.29; an approved safety pool cover; exit alarms on doors and windows with direct pool access, at least 85 dBA at 10 feet; self-closing and self-latching doors with the release at least 54 inches above the floor; or a pool alarm meeting ASTM F2208. The statute states that child-worn alarms do not qualify.

Section 515.27(2) makes noncompliance a second-degree misdemeanour, and provides that there is no penalty if, within 45 days, a feature is installed and the person attends a drowning prevention programme under s. 515.31. The statute does not state fine amounts; the City of Sarasota's own pool form cites fines up to $500 and up to 60 days.

What the barrier option actually specifies

Where the barrier option is chosen, s. 515.29 is specific. The barrier must be at least 4 feet high measured on the outside, and must have no gap, opening or protrusion a young child could crawl under, squeeze through or climb over. It must surround the pool perimeter and be separate from any yard fence, unless that fence is on the pool perimeter, and it must stand far enough from the water's edge that a child cannot fall straight in. Gates must open outward and be self-closing and self-latching with the release on the pool side. A dwelling wall may form part of the barrier only if no door or window opens directly to the pool. For an above-ground pool the structure itself may serve as the barrier, and the statute bars placing a barrier next to a climbable permanent object.

Two things the statute does not do are worth knowing. It gives no sphere-opening dimension for a gap, and it does not address screen enclosures as barriers at all. This draft therefore states no gap dimension and makes no statement about whether a screen enclosure can serve as a barrier.

What the contractor owes the buyer

Section 515.33 requires a licensed pool contractor contracting to build a residential pool, or a builder or developer contracting to build a house with a pool, to give the buyer a document containing chapter 515's requirements together with a copy of the Department of Health publication required by s. 515.31. That publication is to be free, covering drowning prevention and pool-owner responsibilities, either developed by the department or adopted from a nationally recognised source. Section 515.31 also has the department develop or adopt the drowning prevention education programme, with a fee of up to $100, that a violator under s. 515.27(2) must complete. Asking for those documents at contract signing is asking for something the statute already requires.

Where chapter 515 does not apply

Section 515.37 states that the chapter does not apply to public pools, to portable spas with a safety cover meeting ASTM F1346-91, to small temporary wading pools without motors, or to agricultural and irrigation structures. It also does not apply where a political subdivision has adopted a residential pool safety ordinance at least as stringent as the chapter. The statute does not list which local governments have done so, and this draft checked none, so no local ordinance is described here.

The federal drain-cover standard

The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act works on a different axis and the difference matters. Section 1404(b) requires that every pool or spa drain cover manufactured, distributed or entered into commerce in the United States conform to ASME/ANSI A112.19.8 or a successor standard, which reaches drain-cover products generally and so reaches a residential replacement cover. Section 1404(c) is narrower: the anti-entrapment device requirement, and the added system such as an SVRS where there is a single main drain that is not unblockable, applies to public pools and spas. That definition covers multi-family residential pools but **not private single-family pools**. The act's state grant programme, in sections 1405 and 1406, sets minimum state-law requirements that include barriers around all outdoor residential pools and anti-entrapment devices; the sources read do not say whether Florida qualified for a grant.

A separate campaign page gives the drain-cover effective date as December 19, 2008. The Consumer Product Safety Commission's own pages for the act returned 404 to this research, so the act's text was read from the campaign site's copy of its provisions.