New guidelines around the Health and Safety of Ice Baths, have been released by The Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group (PWTAG).

The key recommendations revolve around proper filtration and sanitization. The water must now be skimmed from the surface as 60% of pollutants, such as body oil, float.

The primary sanitisers should be fast acting chlorine or bromine, which are preferable to slow acting Silver Hydrogen Peroxide, for example. UV should only be used as a secondary sanitizer, in conjunction with a primary sanitizer, but not on its own.

Interestingly a key recommendation was that you should not create ice from contaminated water, e.g. when bathers are using or have used an ice bath, as various pathogens can survive in ice and risk infecting bathers as the ice dissolves.

Colin Edgar, MD of CET CryoSpas, and part of the steering committee for the new regulations said: “The main purpose of the new ice bath health and safety regulations is to protect the public from the risk of infection by a number of waterborne pathogens. While CET CryoSpa products do comply with the new regulations, many UK ice bath suppliers and manufacturers, have been supplying ice baths which do not meet basic requirements for commercial use.

"One health and safety inspector, who visited an upmarket health club in London reported to PWTAG that they discovered that a single ice bath, designed for home use, had up to 200 users daily. This particular ice bath had no skim filtration whatsoever.

"For those operators who have acquired non-compliant ice baths, there may in some instances be a way to modify the ice baths to make them compliant.”

When considering the installation of a new ice bath, CET urges customers to consider the key objective, as maximizing the therapeutic effect will require a different set up to a general wellness goal. Requirements will also very based on the daily bather load, as will positioning of the bath and the chiller, depending on the ambient temperature in the room.

Aesthetics is often the first thing people look at, which to a degree can easily be altered, but it is important to look underneath the skin of the ice bath. Can it cope with your anticipated user volume or the ambient temperature of the swimming pool apron?

To stay on the right side of the new guidelines, speak to an expert at CET to ensure you offer the safest, most effective ice bath solution for your members.