Javier Payan said his kids were very young when he first became concerned about the prevailing attitudes towards safety in the pool industry.

"I remember the attitudes of our association when we would bring up topics about safety," Payan said. "The general sentiment was, 'well we don't talk about safety because you could be held liable because of a drowning or something like that.'"

Payan said he always thought that wasn't the right attitude and said the pool industry should be proactive about the safe use of their products. 

"I was able to change the minds of a lot of my peers," Payan said, who added that it was an uphill battle. 

Payan said many in the industry wanted to put the topic aside but he was very driven at trying to mend the rift between pool-safety advocates and the pool industry. 

Watch the full interview with Payan in the video above.