Swimming Pool Buildings
February 14, 2002 -- For many decades, stainless steels have been widely used for many types of equipment in both indoor and outdoor swimming pools. Their unique combination of looks, strength, durability and cleanability makes them ideally suited to such components as handrails, pool ladders, diving structures and so on.
More recently, stainless steel sheet has been chosen as a lining material for pools, improving cleanability, water-tightness and hygiene, by eliminating, for example, grouted joints in ceramic tiles, which can be a source of leakage and/contamination.
When due care is exercised over design, material selection and maintenance, stainless steels can provide decades of reliable service in pool equipment. Incorrect choice of materials, however, can compromise safety and it is essential that particular attention be given to load-bearing components.
The atmosphere inside a swimming pool can be highly corrosive and can, in certain circumstances, lead to a form of corrosion known as stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) in some stainless steels. The danger manifested itself in 1985, when the roof of an indoor pool in �ster, Switzerland, completely collapsed, resulting in several deaths. The roof had been supported by rods of stainless steel in tension, which were subsequently found to have been severely weakened by SCC.
Information on the correct and safe use of stainless steel in pools is available in the form of a 16-page document published by the Nickel Development Institute (NiDI) in partnership with five other organisations with expertise in this area. This "Stainless Steel in Swimming Pool Buildings" is available here for downloading as a PDF file.
The international stainless steel industry, represented by the International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF) together with the Nickel Development Institute, is committed to raising awareness worldwide of the correct and safe use of stainless steel in indoor swimming pools. It also seeks to encourage national regulatory/standards authorities to adopt specific codes of practice intended to achieve this objective as, for example, has been adopted in Germany, by the German Institute for Building Technology in 1999. A copy (SD-862) can be downloaded from the German Stainless Steel Development Association, ISER (www.edelstahl-rostfrei.de)
For more information, please contact:
Euro Inox
Diamant Building
Bd. A. Reyers 80
B-1030 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: 32 2 706 82 67
Fax: 32 2 706 82 69
E-mail: info@euro-inox.org
Website: www.euro-inox.org
ISSF
Rue Colonel Bourg 120
B-1140 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: 32 2 702 89 00
Fax: 32 2 702 88 99
E-mail: issf@iisi.be
Website: www.worldstainless.org
NiDI
42 Weymouth Street
London W1G 6NP
England
Tel: 44 (0) 20 7258 9830
Fax: 44 (0) 20 7487 4964
Email: NiDI_London_UK@NiDI.org
