It was "protection." And in context it was about a pool professional class in response to the new suction entrapment rules. The class was about "Suction Entrapment Protection......"
I remembered back to a giant banner I saw over a dozen years ago while I was still a corporate tool. Working at the 'happiest place on earth' -- Walt Disney World -- I saw this banner in our Team Disney building. It read:
Don't Solve Problems! Eliminate Them!
Another software team had just put in a new hotel reservation system and things were going pretty well (as I understood) but there was a still big 'war room' area with techs helping users with all kinds of problems. The mantra was obvious. Don't make a career out of these software problems. Eliminate them. We've got other things to do.
Today, as I look at the new ANSI 7 standards and all the options for protection against suction entrapment I am reminded of why many are pushing for only the protection against suction entrapment -- their career depends on them selling widgets and work-arounds and other things to help solve a problem that, if eliminated, would make them have to look for a new career.
While some advocate the need for suction in pools for hydraulics, a reasonable and knowledgeable pool builder would agree that at least 95% of all pool projects can be built while totally eliminating suction entrapment hazards. As busines people, surely there is a marketing hook here. And operationally, building without a drain is easier in most cases.
The only way to completely eliminate suction entrapment hazards is to eliminate the suction device completely.
As an industry, rather than continue with endless work-arounds we need to realize that we've got things to do - not necessarily 'better things to do' but more things to do in order to make our products safer and more efficient. Let's move forward and make careers of that!
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