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DIVING INTO THE DATA: RISK FACTORS FOR ROUTINE POOL INSPECTION FAILURES IN 2025

Abstract

Introduction: The environmental health sector of the Georgia Department of Public Health works to prevent illness and injuries in everyday community spaces such as restaurants. Public swimming pools receive the same kind of routine inspections. Cobb and Douglass Public Health oversees more than 1,400 public swimming pool facilities. The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with routine pool inspection failures in Cobb and Douglas Counties, Georgia. Methods: More than 5,700 inspection records were obtained through open records requests, facility and inspection datasets were merged, and the data were subset to 1,036 first routine inspections in 2025. A logistic regression was fit with pass versus fail as the outcome and predictors for facility type, city, centered facility age, and daily maximum temperature. Results: Fitness and Health pools had about 2.6 times the odds of failure compared with Residential and Community. Hotels had about 2.2 times the odds. Each year younger than the average facility age was linked to roughly 2 percent higher odds of failure (OR 1.02, 95% CI 1.001 to 1.040, p = 0.043). Hotter days were associated with higher failure odds, about 4 percent per 1°F increase (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.008 to 1.084, p = 0.017). Several cities showed higher odds than East Marietta; the top three were Lithia Springs at about 8.7 times, Douglasville at about 6.3 times, and Austell at about 6.0 times the odds of failure. Model fit was acceptable and discriminative (AUC 0.713, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.75). Overall model evidence was strong (likelihood ratio χ² = 115.39, df = 21, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Findings are exploratory and correlational. They highlight where risk appears elevated so that public health can prioritize inspections. Future work could test policy actions in high risk groups, such as education versus stronger enforcement.

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