Council ordered to pay £25k+ after girl trapped in water outlet at pool

A local authority has been fined £18,000 and ordered to pay £7,500 in costs after an incident in which a seven-year-old girl was trapped by a water outlet at a swimming pool.

The Health & Safety Executive prosecuted Castle Point Borough Council after the incident at the Waterside Swimming Pool on Canvey Island.

The girl was using the pool on 2 May 2009 with her great grandfather when her hair was sucked into the water sampling outlet on the side of the pool. This trapped her underwater for two minutes and 36 seconds.

The great grandfather had to pull a clump of hair from her head in order to free her. The girl was unconscious when she was finally taken out of the water, limp and blue in colour, but came round once laid on the poolside.

Basildon Magistrates' Court was told that the council, which owns and runs the swimming pool, had not managed the risks to members of the public using it.

The HSE said that, in particular, Castle Point failed to ensure that the sample outlet had two vents so if one became blocked the other vent would take the pressure off the suction.

The court was also told that there were too few lifeguards on duty and of the two that were working, one was cleaning and the other could not see the whole pool due to the glare from sunlight reflecting on the water.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Nicola Surrey said: "This incident was extremely traumatic for the young girl and her great grandfather and it could have had far more serious consequences. Managed properly, swimming pools are a place for fun and exercise yet the council put pool users at risk of entrapment by not properly maintaining the water outlets."