Should Pool Techs Sell Diving Boards?
I often warn pool & spa service technicians of the high risk involved in installing or replacing diving boards. There are no small diving board related claims and the possibility of a major injury lawsuit doesn’t justify the relatively small profit involved in replacing boards. But what about merely selling a diving board and letting the homeowner to replace himself? After all, stores sell diving boards routinely so what is the concern?
Your risk in selling a diving board is largely determined by your knowledge of the pool. A store owner’s liability, for example, is generally limited to the sale of a defective product, such as a manufacturing or design defect. But it is very different for a service tech selling a board. He has seen the pool and his duty goes beyond just selling a defective product; it includes making sure that the board sold is appropriate for that pool. A pool tech selling a diving board could be liable for a diving board accident if he sold an inappropriate board for that pool but a store owner wouldn’t have this exposure because the store owner doesn’t know the charactreristics of the pool.
It is a major distinction and I therefore recommend pool techs don’t sell diving boards to their customers. The risk of a catastrophic claim is just too great.