Too close to home: a 1996 prom-night tragedy put the entrapment debate in the public spotlight

Pool & Spa News, August 9, 2002

Public-Spa Death Puts Focus on Safety

A fatal accident that claimed the life of a New Jersey teenager has sparked nationwide concern over safety in public and semipublic spas--and prompted several health and safety organizations in the state to revisit the issue of spa-safety standards.

Tanya Nickens, 16, died May 25 after becoming entrapped on one of three drains in a health-club spa in the Garden State's Wall Township. It was widely reported that Nickens, who was celebrating with friends following her high school prom at an alcohol-free function, was pinned by excessive suction pressure and held beneath the water for several minutes.

A lifeguard, police officer and Nickens' friends struggled to pull her from the 12-by-12-inch drain and frantically searched in vain for a shut-off switch, which was located in another room on a lower level of the facility. They were unable to free her, however, and Nickens was pronounced dead several hours later at a local hospital.

A special task force composed of members of the N.J. Department of Health, N.J. Department of Consumer Affairs, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Swimming Pool Foundation and representatives from the National Spa & Pool Institute was formed in the days following the incident to investigate the issue of spa safety and recommend measures that could be used to prevent such accidents.

On June 10, New Jersey lawmakers were due to introduce two new bills: one calling for shut-off switches, the other for "audible alarms."

Public concern over the incident has been ratcheted to a fever pitch in some cases by dozens of media reports about the death, many of which appear to have contained unsubstantiated or incorrect information about this and other suction-entrapment accidents.

Despite all of the attention the incident has drawn, several key questions remain unanswered.

Several newspaper articles offered a figure of 12 tons of pressure to describe the force holding Nickens below water--a claim that is still under investigation. What is known is that the pump creating the suction in the drain was rated at 10 horsepower and that the drain plumbed to the pump--one of three in the spa--was a single suction point, meaning that no other suction inlets fed the pump.

RELATED ARTICLE: Rewind June 19, 1996

The subject of entrapment is by no means a new one to the pool and spa industry. But a 1996 high school tragedy helped make it the hot-button issue it is today/

By that time, some ezperts were conducting tests to see what comprises a threat, and others were exploring new solutions to the danger. NSPI/ANSI Standard 2 for Public Spas addressed the subject, but it remained of interest mostly to the industry and public health experts.

That quickly changed after suction entrapment took the life of a 16-year-old New Jersey girl in front of her friends on prom night.

Coverage of the entrapment tragedy followed in newspapers, on national and local news programs, news magazines and even "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Both houses of the New Jersey legislature took their cue: Nine days after the incident, they introduced separate bills calling for a cutoff switch near public spas, hot tubs and whirlpools.

--Rebecca Robledo