Le combat d'Éric Lavoie pour des piscines résidentielles sécuritaires (article en anglais)
Paru le mercredi 27 mai 2009 sur The Globe and mail Source :
www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-paraplegic-wins-victory-with-pool-safety-standards/article1154716/ Quebec paraplegic wins victory with pool safety standards Fourteen-year crusade over lack of rules for diving boards pays off Share with friends Close INGRID PERITZ MONTREAL — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail, Thursday, May. 28, 2009 03:41AM EDT One hot summer afternoon, Eric Lavoie was splashing around a backyard pool and decided to take a plunge off the diving board. He marched two steps along the board's platform, reached the end and dove in head first. His next memory was one of powerful shock. His head struck the pool bottom. Still conscious, he couldn't move. "I tried to return to the surface, but my body was paralyzed," he said yesterday. That carefree summertime splash near Montreal sent Mr. Lavoie, then 19, into rehabilitation and a new purpose. The former machinery salesman turned into a crusader for better pool design to prevent the kind of injury that left him paraplegic. He lobbied provincial officials, created a group to prevent diving accidents and vowed to improve the safety design for in-ground pools in Quebec backyards. This week, 14 years after his life-changing accident, Mr. Lavoie claimed a significant victory. Quebec's product-standards body published strict new norms for residential pools with diving boards, the first of their kind in Canada. "I have fought for 14 years so the situation would change," said Mr. Lavoie, now married and the father of three young children. At the time of his dive, "I didn't run, I didn't do pirouettes, I wasn't drinking. I dove properly. What happened to me is an injustice." While the Quebec standards remain voluntary, pool retailers have already agreed to abide by the rules, which would apply to new installations. "I am in complete agreement with Mr. Lavoie, it was time for something to change," said Isabelle Perras, head of the Quebec association representing about 125 pool retailers. "Everything is pretty wide open with pools in Canada. No government wants to stand up and do something. We have all kinds of rules in the construction industry, but in our industry there's nothing, zero." Currently, most of the province's 72,000 in-ground pools follow old U.S. standards, which were rewritten in 2003 following a $6.6-million (U.S.) court settlement for a teenager paralyzed after a dive. Ms. Perras said diving boards have fallen out of favour in recent years as consumers become more aware of the risks. She said she will urge her members to either discourage customers from installing diving boards, or to follow the strict new guidelines. "We don't want to build pools so people hurt themselves. We do it so they can have fun in their backyard." The new standards call for at least 10 feet of water below the diving board; for most pools currently, the water depth is 7.6 feet. The standards also call for a minimum distance between the diving board and the slope at the bottom of the pool, which rises toward the shallow end; Mr. Lavoie hit his head on the slope. Mr. Lavoie, whose efforts were recognized in 2006 by the Royal Life Saving Society Commonwealth, is lobbying Quebec to give the guidelines the force of law; he would like to see diving boards on existing residential pools removed. Currently, only about 20 municipalities in the province have bylaws governing water depths for diving-board safety. Raynald Hawkins, executive director of the Quebec Lifesaving Society, says pools with the new standards will reduce injuries, and he credited Mr. Lavoie for initiating the drive for changes. "He wanted to make sure that others didn't break their necks on the bottom of the pool. He's shown perseverance," Mr. Hawkins said. |
