What should our HOA board do after a near-drowning or serious injury at the community pool?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 19, 2026

HOA board steps after a near-drowning or serious pool injury: clearing the water, who to call, CDC cleanup rules, a reopening checklist and the review afterward.

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The short answer

Get the person to emergency care, clear everyone out of the water, and keep the pool closed until three things are done. The water has been treated for whatever went into it. The gate, drain covers and rescue gear have been checked. And the board has decided whether anything has to change before swimmers come back. Then call the insurer, send owners a short factual notice, and hold a calm review of the rescue within two weeks. Rules vary by state, by county and by your governing documents. This guide is general education, not legal advice, and a death or a hospital admission is the point to call the association's attorney as well as the carrier. Our guide on how to write an HOA incident report after a common-area injury covers the written report, what directors should and should not say, and how long to keep the file. This one stays on the pool.

The first 30 minutes

One person calls 911. Another starts CPR if the swimmer is not breathing normally. If there is an AED at the pool, send a runner for it right away instead of waiting to see whether it is needed. Clear the water with a whistle or a shout, and once the rescue is under way, move everyone else outside the enclosure. A crowd at the edge slows the paramedics, and a second small child can slip into the water while every adult is watching the first. Lock the gate behind the last swimmer and hang a closed sign. Texas rule 25 TAC 265.198(c) says that whenever a public or semi-public pool closes for any reason, access has to be restricted and a notice posted on the entry gates. Leave the ring buoy and reaching pole where they ended up. Write down the time of the 911 call and the time the ambulance arrived, and get the names and phone numbers of the adults who saw the swimmer in the water. If a lifeguard company staffs the pool, ask the guard on duty to write an account before the shift ends. Ask the company for a copy of its report.

Who you have to tell

Call the insurer the same day if anyone went to the hospital. Most liability policies require prompt notice of an occurrence that could become a claim, whether or not anyone has asked for money. The health department is less clear than most boards expect, because none of the three states' pool rules require an operator to report a drowning or an injury. Texas treats a pool run by a property owners' association as a Class C pool under 25 TAC 265.182, and Health and Safety Code section 341.064(o) lets a county or city close a public pool by order, but the state pool rules contain no injury reporting duty. Florida's chapter 64E-9 has none either. Florida section 514.0115(3) also exempts the pools of homeowners' associations with no more than 32 units or parcels from Department of Health supervision except for water quality, so a 30-home Florida HOA may not hold a state pool permit at all. Colorado's rule 5 CCR 1003-5 exempts private pools used only by residents and their guests. Its definition names condominiums and apartment houses but not HOAs, and a 2026 state interpretive memo treats pools that are not open to the general public as exempt. The same rule lets a local board of health adopt the Model Aquatic Health Code, which can add its own requirements. So call your county or city health department, describe what happened, and ask whether they want a report. Note who you spoke with and what they said. If the pool does hold a permit, expect an inspector. Texas rule 265.197 lets state or local inspectors enter without advance notice.

Treat the water before anyone swims

A rescue often leaves vomit, blood or feces in the pool, and each one has a different fix. Use the CDC's response guidance. Texas rule 265.191(i) points emergency plans to CDC standards for vomit and blood, and Florida rule 64E-9.004(12) makes CDC's fecal incident recommendations mandatory. For vomit or a formed stool, keep swimmers out, scoop out what you can, and hold free chlorine at 2 parts per million with the pH at 7.5 or lower for at least 30 minutes. Do not vacuum feces, because it passes through the filter and back into the water. Diarrhea is a much bigger job. CDC calls for raising free chlorine to 20 ppm for 12.75 hours, or to higher levels for longer when the water contains cyanuric acid stabilizer, and Colorado rule 4.14(3) keeps a pool closed for 24 hours after a diarrheal incident. Blood is the easy one. CDC says chlorine kills the germs found in blood and that there is no public health reason to close for it, though some operators treat a blood spill like vomit so swimmers feel better about getting back in. Have the pool service or a certified operator do the work and write it down. Texas rule 265.193(l)(5) requires the water quality log to record a fecal incident and the remedial steps, and Texas pool records are kept for at least three years.

A checklist before the gate opens again

Walk the pool with the pool service and check off each item in writing. Free chlorine and pH are back in range and logged. Every drain cover and grate is present, undamaged and screwed down. Texas rule 265.185 requires a pool with a missing, broken or loose drain cover to close and stay closed until it is fixed. The gate closes and latches on its own every time, so test it ten times from different angles, including a slow push a small child would give it. The fence has no new gaps, and nothing near it can serve as a step. Texas Health and Safety Code section 757.003 requires an association that owns, controls or maintains a pool to completely enclose the pool yard. The ring buoy, reaching pole and first aid kit are back in place and restocked. If the AED was used, it has new pads and has passed its self-test according to the maker's instructions. The emergency phone works, and the address of the pool is posted next to it for a caller who does not know it. If the adjuster wants to see the site first, wait. For a minor incident, most boards reopen within a day or two. After a death or a hospital admission, keep it closed until the insurer and the attorney have seen what they need, and put the reopening date on the owner notice when you know it.

Look after the people who were there

The family, the neighbor who did CPR and the teenagers who watched will all remember the day longer than the board will. Name one director as the only contact with the family, and keep that contact about how the swimmer is doing and what the family needs, not about the pool or fault. Thank the rescuers by name in a private note. Ask directors not to post about the incident, and remind the moderator of any community social media group to remove posts that name the family or guess at who was supervising. A notice the board can adapt: 'On Saturday afternoon, a young swimmer was pulled from the pool and taken to the hospital by ambulance. Thank you to the residents who helped until paramedics arrived. The pool is closed while it is cleaned, inspected and reviewed with our insurance carrier, and the board will post a reopening date here. Out of respect for the family, the board will not share names or medical details, and we ask everyone to do the same online.'

Review the rescue at the next board meeting

Within two weeks, sit down with whoever was there, and with the lifeguard company if one was on duty, and go through the event minute by minute. How long was the swimmer under before anyone noticed? Who called 911, and did they know the address? Could people find the AED? Was the gate propped open? Were small children in the water without an adult? Keep the meeting about the pool, not about the family. Then decide what to change. The numbers justify the effort. In its 2026 report, the Consumer Product Safety Commission counted an average of 376 pool or spa drowning deaths a year among children under 15 from 2021 to 2023, and about 5,900 emergency room visits a year for nonfatal drownings from 2023 to 2025. Of those emergency visits, 42 percent ended in a hospital admission or a transfer. A motion a board can adapt: 'I move that the board schedule a CPR and AED class for residents before Memorial Day, replace the pool gate closer, and send owners a proposed rule requiring an adult in the pool area for any swimmer under 12, to be adopted after the notice and comment period our governing documents require.' Record the changes in the open minutes in general terms and leave the claim out of them.

Mistakes boards make

Reopening the same afternoon because the water looks clear. Letting three directors call the family and each say something different. Skipping the health department call because the pool is exempt, then learning the county wanted to hear about it. Vacuuming a fecal accident, which spreads it through the system. Replacing the gate latch before anyone photographs the old one. Posting a long explanation on the neighborhood Facebook group that guesses at who was watching the child. And holding the review so long after the event that nobody remembers how long the 911 call took. Write down what you learn while it is fresh.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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