Pool Staff Practices and Pool. Water Quality Currently, there is no nationwide requirement for pool operator training and certification. However, Georgia’s rules and regulations do require public pool operators to be trained (Chapter 511-3-5 Georgia Department of Public Health). Overall, there are about 20 states that require verifiable training (Lachocki, 2006). Various studies and reports have demonstrated the importance of requiring pool operator training in order to prevent the increasing number of RWI outbreaks that are often a result of inadequate pool maintenance (Bilajac, Xxxxx Xxxxx, Doko Jelinic, & Xxxxxxxx, 0000; Xxxx et al., 2009; LaKind, Richardson, & Xxxxxx, 2010). Xxxx, et al. (2009) looked at the association between swimming pool operator certification and reduced pool chemistry violations in Nebraska from 2005 to 2006. The study found that public pools that were not required to have trained certified operators were twice as likely to have free chlorine and pH violations as public pools that were required to have certified pool operators. Of non-municipal pools 30.9% (167 of 541) had free chlorine violations and of municipal pools 13% (60 of 460) had free chlorine violations. When examining just Sarpy County, 27% (34 of 126) of non-municipal pools had pH violations compared to 6.5% (2 of 31) of municipal pools. Simultaneous pH and free chlorine violations were seen in 12.7% (16 of 126) of non-municipal pools and 3.2% (1 of 31) municipal pools in Sarpy County. The results from this study indicate that requiring pool operator training and certification for public pools can help prevent RWIs (Xxxx et al., 2009). A dissertation by Xxxx (2002) involved a study that measured knowledge and behavior change of pool staff at treated aquatic facilities in Tennessee before and after an intervention training session aimed at preventing waterborne disease. The training session involved topics such as RWI prevention, facility maintenance, pool chemicals and water quality, pool policies, and diaper policies. The aquatic staff demonstrated a 35% increase in knowledge when comparing their pre-test and post-test. Overall, the results showed that the intervention was a successful and effective way to train aquatic staff in waterborne disease prevention (Xxxx, 2002).
