Family of Raleigh lifeguard: 'Substandard work' led to electrocution

Rachel Rosoff was found in a pool on Valley Forge Road in the Heritage Point neighborhood on Sept. 3 and pulled from the water.

Rosoff was a student at Enloe High School, and she worked as a lifeguard at the community pool through the Aquatic Management Group.

The lawsuit, filed by Rosoff’s parents on what would have been her 18th birthday, names Williams Electric Motor Repair, Inc. and Future Connections Electrical, Inc. as defendants.

The lawsuit claims that work performed by Williams Electric in June 2011 violated the National Electrical Code.

At the time of the accident, the Heritage Point pool had been inspected three times in 2016 for health and safety issues but an electrical inspection hadn’t happened since the pool was built in 1979.

The lawsuit alleges that the installation work done in 2011 by Williams Electric required that the aluminum wiring that had been in place since 1979 be replaced, but the company failed to do so.

The lawsuit also claims that Williams Electric did not have a permit for the work performed and did not have the work inspected, as required by law.

The lawsuit alleges that Future Connections installed the wrong size capacitor in the pool’s pump motor, causing it to fail and overheat on the day Rosoff drowned and that employees found safety hazards at the pool that they should have reported and didn’t.

“What happened to Rachel could just as easily have happened when the pool was filled with children,” attorney David Kirby said. “We need to ensure that this tragedy is never repeated.”

Under current law, electrical systems at public pools are required to be inspected only when the pools first open, but Rosoff’s family is lobbying for annual electrical inspections.

Wake County pool inspectors said they would provide the DHHS memo to all pool operators with their yearly inspection fee invoice, but any electrical inspections would be up to individual operators.