An area of the outdoor pool at Whakatāne Aquatic Centre has been set aside for manus (bombing) after a nine-year-old boy nearly drowned last month.
Photo: 123rf
On 19 January, the boy was discovered unconscious at the bottom of the deep end of the pool by 14-year-old Manaaki Stewart, who was at the pool with his 10-year-old sister, Ayla-Rā.
Manaaki dived into the pool and brought the boy to the surface and he and his sister raised the alarm, saving the boy's life.
The boy was taken to hospital where he recovered well and was discharged the same week.
The pool is owned and managed by Whakatāne District Council. Acting chief executive Rob Trass said last week that after any incident a full review was carried out to ensure that any required changes to procedures were actioned.
"This review resulted in formalising an area in lanes one and two of the outdoor pool as an approved place for manus. Staff are there to monitor that activity and signage is being produced and will be put in place to show users where they can bomb."
Management staff at the council have been tight-lipped about why the drowning child was not seen by the lifeguard on duty during the latest incident.
It was the second incident in less than a year in which a child would have died in the water if another child swimming nearby had not acted quickly to alert the lifeguards on duty.
The previous incident occurred in April last year when two seven-year-old boys alerted lifeguards to a 10-year-old girl who had lost consciousness after getting her hair caught in a suction grate at the pool. Lifeguards performed CPR and resuscitated her at the poolside and she spent a week in hospital.
In the latest event, witnesses told the Beacon there had been "a lot of blood", that the boy had not been breathing when they pulled him to the surface and that members of a scuba class, training at the pool at the time, had resuscitated the boy.
Asked if there would be an investigation into the incident, council community experience general manager Georgina Fletcher said the council notified WorkSafe of the incident, which had confirmed it would not be carrying out an investigation. It did not investigate the April event either.
On 27 January, The Whakatāne Beacon requested information under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.
It asked how many lifeguards were in the outdoor pool area at the time of the incident? Where they were and why did they not see the boy, who was bleeding from his head?
Trass responded on 16 February. He said there had been a senior lifeguard at the shallow end of the outdoor pool, that they had been the second person on the scene and lifted the injured swimmer poolside.
"It would be incorrect to infer that there was visible blood in the water," he said.
The Whakatāne Beacon asked about the aquatic centre's operating policies. Trass said the pool had a policy of one guard to 50 swimmers and children could swim unsupervised from the age of eight.
"Our standard operating procedure is based on guidance from the Recreation Aotearoa Poolsafe Quality Management Scheme. This guidance advises ratios of between 30 swimmers to one lifeguard through to 100 swimmers to one lifeguard. The Whakatāne Aquatic Centre operates at a 50:1 ratio.
"Currently, children eight years of age and older can attend the Whakatāne Aquatic Centre without an accompanying adult. On entry, children without an adult are asked their age; there is a degree of trust involved."
The Whakatāne Beacon also asked the council whether the injured child had been accompanied by anyone, whether any disciplinary action was being taken with staff and also requested to see the CCTV footage at the time of the incident. These information requests were refused, with "privacy" cited as the reason.
A query was also sent to Worksafe NZ about why it had chosen not to investigate the incident.
A spokesperson responded that WorkSafe did not investigate or assign an inspector to every event or situation that was notified to it.
"All notifications are carefully considered to determine what response is appropriate to the circumstances. Many factors are taken into account, including the risk of injury, the seriousness of the harm, the compliance history of the business or undertaking and the likelihood of such an event happening again."
National pool guidelines
Recreation Aotearoa guidelines for public swimming pools include a Pool Alone policy instated in 1997 and reviewed in 2002 that states children are able to swim unsupervised in a public swimming pool from the age of eight years.
The policy states that children under eight years of age must be actively supervised by a caregiver over 16, and the caregiver must be on hand to respond immediately to danger. Children under five must be within arms' reach of a caregiver.
Individual pools around New Zealand have raised the age that children are allowed to swim in their pools unsupervised.
Hamilton pools require a parent or caregiver over the age of 16 to accompany children under 14 at all times.
At Kawerau's Maurie Kjar Memorial Swimming Pool Complex, children 12 and under must be supervised by someone over 16 and Tauranga public pools such as Greerton and Mount Maunganui's Baywave require supervision for children 10 and under.
Rotorua Aquatic Centre, like Whakatāne, allows children eight years and over to swim unsupervised.
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