On July 6, 2012, Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold signed into law legislation known as “Connor’s Law” that requires that defibrillators be on site at all public and semi-public pools in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The law was passed as an emergency ordinance by the Anne Arundel County Council on Monday and signed by the County Executive on Friday, and as such takes effect immediately.
What does this mean to us?
Since this is emergency legislation it is now law. Under the law there is no grace period. All public and semi-public pools must have an AED on site, as well as other safety equipment that had previously been mandated.
Can I wait?
The law mandates an “Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) Device approved by the Health Officer“. As of the date of this writing the Anne Arundel County Health Officer has not issued a list of approved AED’s.
On July 3, the day after the county council passed the bill, an article written by Allison Bourg that appeared on Capital Gazette.com stated “The bill was passed as emergency legislation, meaning it takes effect immediately. But pools that don’t have the devices yet will not immediately be cited, said Alan Friedman, director of government relations for County Executive John R. Leopold“.
What action should I take?
The law states that approved AED’s are required at your pool now; however there is no list of approved AED’s and indications are that Anne Arundel County will not be enforcing the AED provision for the balance of this summer pool season.
There are many AED’s on the market that can be purchased now, and we recommend that you purchase one now. We can recommend specific AED units to you but can’t be certain they will be on the approved list when published.
AED’s can aid in emergency care, and the American Red Cross Lifeguarding course includes instruction on the use of AED’s.
