At its first meeting, the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals’ new Commercial Council established its initial agenda, which largely revolved around regulations and education.
As part of a movement toward providing more services for commercial companies, APSP formed the council earlier this year.
First off, the group plans to influence codes and standards affecting this sector. “Regulations are necessary, but we don’t want them to be overburdensome,” said APSP President/CEO Lawrence Caniglia. “We were hearing stories about how it could take months to get a permit to build a commercial pool. So in the grand scheme, this council’s going to look at ways to make it less onerous to build a commercial pool.”
To that end, he said, the group will begin by streamlining its own standards and try to ensure consistency among others’. First, it will combine its public pool and public spa standards into one.
Additionally, the group will continue its work with the forces behind the Model Aquatic Health Code to fix inconsistencies between it and APSP’s commercial codes — a process that began last fall. An official subcommittee has been formed to collaborate with the Council for the Model Aquatic Health Code, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Swimming Pool Foundation, Caniglia said.
The association also may develop a new, bare-bones model code for certain municipalities. Texas, for instance, doesn’t adopt codes whole cloth, but must sift through language and only use what applies. “The council thought we really need to have a basic operations and maintenance standard for those jurisdictions,” Caniglia said.
The final item on its immediate agenda: Developing courses to help commercial contractors and code officials develop better working relationships, and teach inspectors to evaluate commercial pools and spas.
