Retrospective: the week of May 26, 2026. This article was prepared later and was not published in May. A May 22 State Fire Marshal’s Office notice supplies the historical context. The state tracker and program page were rechecked on September 8, 2026. Because tracker entries can change, readers should check the live record before making a decision.
A Tennessee marina can have an old inspection date, an initial result and a separate status on the same row. Those fields answer useful questions, yet they do not amount to a live safety score.
That distinction matters before a family outing, youth trip or waterside event. On May 22, ahead of Memorial Day weekend, the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) and State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) warned about electric shock drowning. The agencies described it as paralysis followed by drowning after a swimmer enters water energized by a nearby source, such as a boat or marina. Read the May 22 SFMO notice.
The notice points boaters to Tennessee’s public Marina 5 Year Safety Tracker. Use it as a starting record, then ask about anything it leaves unresolved.
First, make sure you found the right property
Search the tracker for the marina or dock name. Then compare the region, county and lake or river with the place you plan to visit. Names can be similar, and a resort name on a booking page may differ from the name in a government table.
If you cannot find a clear match, do not assume the property was omitted improperly or that it is outside the program. Ask the operator which name appears on its SFMO record. You can also contact the state’s Electrical, Residential and Marina section. Its program page lists a main office phone number, email address and weekday hours.
Save the URL and the date you checked it. A screenshot can help you preserve what you saw, but return to the live page before the visit. A saved image will not capture a later update.
Read the last three columns separately
The tracker presents three different pieces of inspection information:
| Field | What it tells you | What it does not settle |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection date | The date displayed for that entry | Conditions after that date |
| Initial Insp. Result | The result recorded for the initial inspection | Whether later work or review changed the situation |
| Status | The state’s current displayed label for the row | Details that the table does not provide |
Do not stop at the word “PASS” or “FAIL.” The initial-result and status fields can display different labels on the same row. The live table includes labels such as “Needs Follow Up Inspection, POCA Complete,” “Never Received POCA back from customer,” “Due 2026” and “CO Good Until Next Cycle.”
As reviewed on September 8, the tracker page did not define the abbreviations “POCA” or “CO.” It also did not provide a separate follow-up inspection date column or link each row to an inspection report. Read the labels as written. Do not expand an acronym, declare corrective work accepted or treat a follow-up as complete unless SFMO confirms what the record means.
One careful question can prevent several bad assumptions: “What does this status mean for this property today, and is there a later inspection or closure document that is not shown in the table?”
A five-year inspection is a checkpoint
The May 22 notice says Tennessee’s public marinas and docks must be inspected by SFMO and that marina inspections occur every five years. It traces the state program to the Noah Dean and Nate Act, passed in 2014 after Noah Dean Winstead and Nate Lynam died at a Cherokee Lake marina in 2012.
The five-year schedule makes the inspection date important. It also sets a limit on what the record can prove. A dated inspection cannot describe every repair, electrical change, boat connection or condition that arose afterward.
The public table does not show a running log of daily conditions. It should not be converted into a ranking of marinas, a warranty or a declaration that a property is safe or unsafe today. A “CLOSED” tracker status should likewise be confirmed before treating it as the property’s current business-operating status; the page does not explain the scope of that label.
For a routine visit, compare the exact property details, date, initial result and status. For an organized event, group reservation or situation with an unclear entry, ask for a written answer from the operator and, when needed, SFMO.
Ask the operator questions the tracker cannot answer
The tracker check takes a minute. The next conversation should be just as specific.
- Is this the correct SFMO entry for this facility? Ask the operator to match the displayed name, location and waterway.
- Has electrical work occurred since the displayed inspection? Ask what changed and whether any required inspection or approval followed. The question does not presume that work was defective.
- Are there designated swimming areas near the marina or boatyard? SFMO advises people never to swim within 100 yards of a freshwater marina or boatyard. A tracker result does not cancel that guidance.
- How are guests warned about electrical hazards? Ask where no-swimming notices and emergency instructions are posted and how staff communicates a closure.
- Who receives a hazard report? Visitors and event organizers should know how to reach marina staff and emergency services without searching during an incident.
These are planning questions, not claims that every operator has the same legal duty or procedure. They help a reader identify a gap before arriving with children, guests or employees.
For an event contract, write down the exact facility name and the areas the group expects to use. If swimming, docks and shore-power connections are part of the plan, address them separately. A general statement that the venue is “inspected” does not answer where guests may enter the water.
Keep the state’s immediate safety advice with the record
The inspection tracker concerns facilities. The May 22 notice also gives direct advice for people on or near the water.
SFMO says never to swim within 100 yards of a freshwater marina or boatyard. Boat owners should have their boats tested annually for electrical leakage and should use shore-power cords built to Underwriters Laboratories standards, not common household extension cords. The notice recommends qualified electricians trained to American Boat and Yacht Council standards when problems are found.
If someone in the water feels tingling or shocks, the agency says not to swim toward the dock. It advises swimming 100 yards or more away from the dock, warning others and alerting the marina owner once ashore so power can be shut off until the problem is found and corrected. Would-be rescuers should not enter the water. Call 911 or VHF Channel 16 as appropriate.
Those actions belong in a trip or event safety note even when the tracker row looks straightforward. The public record and the personal precautions address different parts of the risk.
Use a short decision rule
Before a Tennessee marina visit, record four items: the exact facility, the inspection date, the initial result and the status. If the name does not match, the status is unclear or the table leaves a follow-up question, ask the operator and SFMO rather than supplying your own interpretation.
Then follow the state’s swimming and electrical-safety guidance regardless of the row’s wording. The tracker works best when it prompts a precise question. It is least reliable when a single label gets stretched into a promise the page never makes.