Within the swimming pool industry, there is no governance or authority to legislate or maintain the standards that should be applied to swimming facilities, writes Stephen Ellix, managing director of Prominent Fluid Controls and vice chair of PWTAG’s Industry Forum.
For sure, there is the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), the only public authority to be involved, but they look at pools and spas purely from a public health perspective, recommending limits on contaminants.
The HSE is not a technical body that can identify best practices when it comes to technology and technological solutions.
It is not their role to nominate or specify the equipment capable of achieving and maintaining a healthy environment. This task is left to the industry to deal with, and if there is no registration/affiliation to a structured organisation or industry advisory group, anyone could make the claim of supremacy or best practice/supply and the poor customer would have no idea about making the best decision.
Considering the potential ramifications for public health, not only the quality of the facilities and their pool water, but also from such areas as chemistry use and storage and training, I find it staggering that this is the reality the industry is subjected to.
So how is the industry to self-regulate?
Should everyone just do what they believe is best practice? Or should some industry-wide, responsible people create an advisory board, non profit, and establish a code of practice to ensure that the highest standards (that should be enforced officially) are provided for, through membership, co-ordination and guidance?
UNIQUE COLLABORATION
That of course is the essence of PWTAG.
It is a unique collaboration of industry experts, all sharing the same vision and desire for unsurpassed swimming facilities throughout the UK. To maintain this vital resource and ensure its viability, people from all facets of our industry need to be involved and become paying registered members.
With no support from public funds,
registration and membership fees are a vital source of the revenue required to fund PWTAG’s administration.
So my answer, if the industry wishes to maintain a high level of provision and supply with the advantages of reference and constant improvement, then the industry needs someone and we believe that someone is PWTAG.
Log on to www.pwtag.org to find out about membership options.
