For decades, DOH guidelines have required that all pools be manually tested daily and that the readings be marked on your form 921 (or equivalent) log sheet. That means everyone, everyday per DOH.
But, some sites don’t or can’t comply. Some sites outsource all their services, and don’t have a 7-day a week maintenance staff anymore; others only have a 3-day a week pool service contract without coverage for the other days. “7-day service is too expensive!”, “We don’t have the budget!”, “We don’t think we need to test daily!” … we have heard it all.
Well regardless of what people think, and what their budget is… the fact remains that the law is the law.
The code reads: 64E-9.004 Operational Requirements.
The completed report shall reflect manually conducted pool water tests for pH and disinfectant levels at least once every 24 hours, and weekly testing for cyanuric acid when chlorinated isocyanurates are used at spas and pools, and shall be retained at the pool, and made available to the department upon request. Any able person can test the pool water and record it in the report.
What sites do to get around this requirement? Many lie. They’ll either leave the log sheets blank on days when the pool hasn’t been tested, OR… they’ll write down bogus readings on the log sheet, some times filling them out weeks or months in advance. This is affably known as the “pencil test kit”
Only now, DOH is getting tired of the deceit and mis-information on a legal form for a legal requirement… and some sites have been warned, written up, and have gotten in bigger trouble when someone slipped and fell, or got sick in their pool, or was diagnosed with Legionella potentially contracted at their site.
What are the alternatives? What are the solutions?
Fortunately, CES has several alternatives and an affordable game plan that will give you a quick and easy way to comply with DOH codes.
Ask your CES rep for more information (too much to write here) on some solutions, including the MCR™ program that is a DOH-approved solution for sites with staffing issues.
