Incidents

The information on incidents is based on those that have been reported to Recreation Aotearoa from Poolsafe facilities.

In the July 20 – Jun 21 year we had 1 fatal drowning and 21 non-fatal drownings of children under the age of 10. Parental or events, although facilities don’t always receive the cause of death at the time of reporting.

Type of Incident Numbers

Fatality Drowning 1

attempting to swim the length of the pool underwater.

How it happened? A group of 18–20-year-old males were at the pool for a few hours. They were in the adult spa, when the 19-year-old told his friends that he was going to swim the length of the main pool without breathing. He left the spa and began swimming the length of the pool without taking a breath. A scanning staff member saw him midway through the swim, then continued his scanning of the pool. The swimmer’s friends were watching to see if he could make it. There was roughly a 10 second gap where his friends lost sight of him and started to look for him, at the same time the lifeguard also started to search for him. A swimmer in the next lane surfaced holding the male who was unconscious.

Action taken by staff? With the help of lifeguard staff and other customers (water polo group), the casualty was lifted out of the pool and CPR commenced. After one round of CPR the casualty came around. He was taken to hospital and kept overnight as a precaution. Staff followed up with him and discovered he had been a lifeguard previously. He stated that he couldn’t believe he had been so stupid; and he was very thankful to the staff. He remembered reaching the end of the pool and touching the wall and then nothing. Fortunately, the swimmer in the next lane was performing a tumble turn at the time and saw him go down, so he was not under water for long.

Case Study: Non-Fatal Drowning, Mount Hot Pools Reported by Matthew Strange, Bay Venues

What happened? On Friday 18 March a wet rescue was performed at the Mount Hot Pools. A three-year-old child was struggling to stay afloat – they were on their tiptoes, chin up, mouth open, taking in water with every gasp. The child did not call out or make any noise (silent drowning). The child initially appeared ok but then started to lose consciousness. CPR was administered and the child was taken to hospital by ambulance.

How it happened? A family of four (two adults and two children) were in the passive pool at the western end, and at 6.27pm the three-year-old walked along the seat and stepped off into deeper water. The parents were within two metres of the child; however, they were facing away, focused on their younger child. The pool is one metre deep, with a seat around the edge which is approximately 0.4 m high (0.6m deep).

Action taken by staff? A lifeguard, who was poolside, spotted the child and assessed the behaviour for approximately 10 seconds. The lifeguard was five metres away and having assessed the child was in difficulty began to sprint toward the child and yelled out. The child’s mouth was submerged under the water for approximately 20 seconds. When the lifeguard yelled the father looked around and grabbed the child, then pulled him out of the water. The lifeguard returned to their station.

The parents sat the child on the seat in the pool with them for about 30 seconds before getting out of the pool The child initially appeared to be fine but then quickly became limp and started to turn blue. The lifeguard saw this and radioed for assistance. The Aquatic Supervisor and Team Leader arrived with the trauma pack and proceeded to provide first aid The receptionist called the ambulance.

The child was coughing up fluid and was severely lethargic, drifting in and out of consciousness. There was a nurse at the pools who assisted with monitoring oxygen levels and heart rate The defibrillator was attached to the child and turned on The defib kept advising to conduct CPR which the Aquatics Supervisor initially did.

Paramedics arrived 18 minutes after the lifeguard first observed the child in difficulty. By this time, the child had opened his eyes and became more responsive. The child was taken by ambulance The child continued to vomit water in the ambulance and was admitted to hospital, had water sucked from his lungs, and remained in ICU Friday and Saturday night.

What changes have you made since the incident? A full debrief was undertaken with staff and the wellbeing of the attending lifeguard, who appeared to be shocked by the incident, was well managed by Hot Pools manager.

We have reinforced with staff that if the defib is put on as a precautionary measure, not to turn it on as it will advise CPR even if not required. This caused confusion, in an already intense situation, especially for parents

We also spoke about connecting with the parents and explaining what was happening and that things are under control. The parents gave feedback that the lifeguards didn’t seem very rushed or knew what they were doing. However, the team felt they had it under control so would have appeared calm to the parents

We are also going to revise our supervision ratios Although 1 : 30 at the time was well manageable, backed up by the lifeguard’s quick response, we feel 1 : 30 can be a lot and most staff are comfortable around 1 : 60

Case Study: Points of Interest

The child was only in distress for 20 seconds, but due to being just tall enough he took on a lot of water as he tried to get air. Had he gone fully under he likely would have held his breath. Research shows that most people initially hold their breathe when under water, this child was not fully submerged and did not hold their breathe.

Mum and dad were close but looking in a different direction at the younger sibling.

The child had been wearing a floatation device earlier and had taken it off to eat. When he stepped off the seat he looked as though he thought he would float.

We recently had similar incident with a young boy removing a floatation tube and jumping into the pool behind his father's back. It would be interesting to see if others have experienced similar incidents with flotation devices and the false confidence they can give younger children.