Chicago Pool Injury Lawyer - Article

Pool Drain: Hair Entanglement

Hair entanglement is a problem very similar to body entrapment. In this case, strands of hair get tangled in and around the cover of a pool drain. Once the hair is tangled, it becomes increasingly tangled around the drain cover which makes it hard for the pool drain’s victim to escape.

There were 43 cases of hair entanglement or entrapment in spas, pools, and hot tubs between January of 1990 and August of 2004. From these cases, 12 of the pool victims died. Much like in body entrapment, the deaths were a result of drowning.

The victims were most frequently girls with long, fine hair. This type of hair is easily tangled above water and when dry, so it is easy to see how it could become tangled underwater as well.

The victims were typically playing underwater with their head near a suction outlet or drain. The water flowing into the drain swept the hair into and around the drain cover where it then gets caught in the plastic. The victims ranged in age from 4 years to 42 years. The median age, much like in body entrapment, is 9 years old.

Much like in body entrapment, the problem is not the hair gets tangled, but that the pool’s pump continues to pump even though something is trapped against the drain. This problem is easy to solve with a pump system that stops pumping with it sense that there is something obstructing the drain.

Contact a Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer

If you have been injured in a pool-related accident, contact the Chicago pool injury lawyers of Friedman & Bonebrake at 312-466-8200 to discuss your case and to determine your legal options.