How Public Pool Operators Prepare Their Facilities for Inspection

The 2024 outdoor pool season may be coming to a close, but it’s never too soon to start preparing for summer 2025. From Memorial Day to Labor Day every year, communities across the country take refuge at their local outdoor aquatics facilities. Pool-goers are hoping to cool off, keep the kids active and have a little fun.

Long before the gates open, however, the operators of these pools are tasked with ensuring that their facilities and equipment are in safe and working condition. While that may sound like a matter of simply walking around the grounds and giving everything a quick once over, there’s actually a lot of work that goes into getting an aquatics facility ready for visitors.

Here’s a look at that process from both a pool operator’s and an inspector’s point of view.

Preparing for company

“A bit of chaos naturally comes with the territory,” says Shane Martin, an aquatics and parks program coordinator in Madison, Wis. “It’s probably three or four weeks of full-time work before the season starts.”

Aside from the considerable task of staffing for the season, Martin explains that every detail of the pool, and every piece of equipment, needs to be inspected before visitors can be welcomed onto the city’s beaches and into its outdoor pools.

“It’s the lifeguard tubes, making sure the straps aren’t frayed and won’t fall apart after the first week,” Martin says, noting a litany of details that need to be worked through. “Same thing with the fanny packs. We have to make sure the zippers work, and we have to have first aid supplies for the beaches. We usually have about 300 feet of rope on hand in case we have to remake a rope at the pool or the beaches. We get all the lane lines out, clean everything multiple times, get all the chairs out and check if they need to be replaced or repaired. Then we get the pool fired up to look at the mechanical and water chemical side of the house. And then we’re also in charge of ordering concessions — pop, food, ice cream — ordering swimsuits for the staff, figuring out who needs what sizes. All that good stuff. It takes forever.”

All this work is done in order to pass the seasonal inspection, which ensures that the pool is in compliance with the state’s code requirements that govern everything from water chemistry to operations and ensuring proper safety equipment is onsite. 

Explains Martin, “They come check out our concessions area, make sure that we’re in compliance with the ATCP 76 [Wisconsin's code related to the operation of public pools] the chemical levels in the pool are right, that we have all the safety equipment out, our staffing plans — so we outline the number of guards we have for each shift and where they’d be based on staffing levels or the number of people in the pool. It’s a lot of work but, you know, this all makes sure everyone has a good, safe time at our facility.”

Martin says he also wants to make sure that his AEDs are in working order. He keeps two at the pool he manages. “We have a green one similar to what we have throughout the city. Maintenance will ensure that one has a good battery in it and it’s ready to go. And then we have another one that has a lithium-ion battery in it. I check that one every month, and that comes with me back to the office, and during the offseason, it just sits there. I just take the battery out, put it back in and hit the buttons. I can test it myself automatically. We just make sure pads are in good working order, the battery’s not expired, and we have all the stuff that we need with it.” 

Martin says all the preparation that goes into getting the season off to a good start usually pays off in the end, but he admits it’s a lot of hard work. “It’s the only time of the year that I know I’m probably going to go over my 40 hours, but it’s worth it.”

Getting the word out

Jessica Sanders, programming manager for the Plan Review and Sanitation Section in Wake County, N.C., which does inspections of public pools, can relate to Martin’s hard work in getting the city’s pools and beaches ready. 

“Each spring, we do kind of a media day, because it’s a big seasonal push to get all the work done,” says Sanders. “We’re saying, ‘Hey, it’s time.’ In North Carolina, the seasonal pools have to pass an inspection before they’re allowed to open. And it’s a short window of time between April 1 and usually about Memorial Day, when most people want to be open. So, we just kind of do a little blurb — usually in March — letting everyone know that these are some things we’re looking for, and it’s time to get your pool ready. The sooner you request an inspection, the better we can accommodate your request.”

Sanders says inspectors are looking to make sure operators have dotted all their "i"s and crossed all their "t"s. “Items that inspectors are checking include water chemistry, drain safety, emergency equipment, fencing and entrances, signage, restroom facilities, equipment and chemical rooms, as well as many other things to ensure the pool area is clean and safe for its users,” Sanders says. 

North Carolina doesn’t require public pools to have an AED onsite, but Sanders says many pools do have them. That said, there are other pieces of safety equipment that are required. “We do have certain emergency equipment that’s required for public pools. That includes the emergency phone, a body hook and a ring buoy, or lifeguards on duty. And inspectors do evaluate those items to ensure they meet the requirements, so that they can find that they’re all in good working order in the event of an emergency.” 

Sanders notes that water chemistry is a crucial aspect of the inspections. “The inspectors check the disinfectant and pH levels during the inspection to ensure that they’re within the required ranges. There are minimums and maximums for both, and the pH should be between 7.2 and 7.8.” 

The pool operator’s qualifications are also important, Sanders notes, as they need certain certifications to meet the state’s requirements. “We have different types of public pools. Some are apartment complexes, and they tend to have a maintenance person who’s on staff who gets the pool ready. Then we have neighborhood pools where they might hire a pool management company that takes care of pools. But whether you have someone on staff who’s trained, or you hire a company to do it for you, each pool has to have a certified pool operator who has certain certifications and who is responsible for that pool. They have to have at least one person who has the two required certifications.”

Sanders says her department does everything it can to ensure operators are successful in their preparations for inspection. “When we’re setting up appointments with them, we point them to a checklist on our website, where they can find the things we’re looking for. It’s the same checklist the inspectors use, and we encourage them to use it themselves to be prepared for what we’re going to look for. And then, hopefully, with that required training that they have to have, with the certification that they have to renew every five years, they’re versed on what we’re looking for and can be prepared.”