waterworld
I would not be surprised if the basis for increasing the age requirement for the hot tub and steam room is liability and insurance costs. I don’t go to the Y in question, so I don’t know anything about the layout, or the equipment they have, or if the lifeguards can monitor the area as closely as they should. But the company that insures more than half of all YMCA branches (Redwoods Group) has reported that hot tubs, saunas, and steam rooms are one of the major sources of liability for Y facilities. In fact, Redwoods publishes notices concerning many, if not all, child fatalities in Y pools and hot tubs, along with a general sort of safety-related analysis of each incident. It is depressing, to say the least, to read these reports. Nationally, over 1,500 children drown each year, and many thousands more are injured in and around pools and hot tubs.
Also, the minimum legal requirements and industry-recommended guidelines related to hot tub safety have been changing in response both to child fatalities and to an increasing amount of medical reporting on the risks of hot-tub use (although this stuff is not just about children, there are medical issues for people of all ages). For non-profit organizations like the Y, it may be that posting warnings and counting on adults to adequately monitor their children is no longer enough to meet all of the guidelines and keep their insurance rates reasonable.
If I were a parent of a young child, I think I would be on your side in all this, Ms. Sparkles. I have a hot tub in my back yard and it’s a wonderful thing. It’s also true, though, that hot tubs are dangerous and the data is painfully clear that many parents are not as careful as you.