National Swimming Pool Codes – Junction of Health and Building Officials

In recent years there has been a steady increase of reported disease outbreaks where an aquatic venue was found to be the common source. In addition, every year there are tragic injuries and deaths in swimming pools. CDC is creating a Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC) to improve the health conditions in these venues. The International Code Council (ICC) has created the International Swimming Pool & Spa Code (ISP&SC) governing pool and spa construction for enforcement by Building Code Officials. Meetings have taken place between CDC and ICC officials to explore how these codes can be complimentary.  In an early meeting, Jay Peters from ICC stated that he thought an arrangement could be reached where a “baton transfer” could occur between the building code officials after the design and construction phase to the environmental health officials for the on-going operation and maintenance phase of the aquatic venue.  The collaboration between the CDC and ICC needs to continue to create joint pool code strategies and explore the possibility of a joint code in the second version of the ISP&SC which will come out in 2015.  Environmental Health representatives are being considered for the ICC pool code committee for that second version. 

CDC, NEHA and other national organizations that represent EH professionals are likely to become more involved in the ICC’s code development processes.  The ICC creates codes dealing with areas including “green” buildings, sustainability, and property maintenance that need environmental health input. This move may also encourage more collaboration between the environmental health officials and building code officials at the local and state levels. Please consider joining CDC / ICC / NEHA for an informative session about how these efforts will integrate.