Mt Albert pool near-drowning: Audit found record-keeping issues two months before preschooler nearly died

* A March audit found 35 points had to be addressed before Mt Albert Aquatic Centre could receive its PoolSafe certification

* Issues included missing, mislabelled and incomplete lifeguard-related paperwork

* Regular pool user emailed manager nine months earlier with safety concerns and received no reply

An audit of a council-owned swimming pool two months before a boy nearly drowned stated four of the 23 lifeguards had expired qualification paperwork.

The audit of the Mt Albert Aquatic Centre also found 34 other points that had to be addressed before the pool could receive its certification. These included how many lifeguards were required on duty and who was in charge in case of an emergency.

Mt Albert Aquatic Centre, which Belgravia Leisure manages on behalf of Auckland Council, was audited on March 5 this year.

Four of the 23 lifeguards at Mt Albert Aquatic Centre had expired practising certificates. Image / Digital montage

Two months later a boy, 4, nearly drowned at the complex after a member of the public pulled him from the bottom of the pool on May 4.

Off-duty doctor Joe Hancock said he saw lifeguards performing chest compressions when there was food in the boy’s mouth, obstructing his breathing.

Hancock said he stepped in, cleared the airway and then proceeded with resuscitation.

He told the Herald he had “serious concerns” about safety at the pool “and in particular about the first aid support available”.

Belgravia Leisure is running an internal investigation into the near-drowning that it hopes to complete this week.

WorkSafe told the Herald it had recently assessed the Mt Albert Aquatic Centre and was satisfied by the changes made following the incident. It has decided not to investigate and had closed the case.

The Mt Albert pool complex was visited by an inspector from Recreation Aotearoa’s assessor PoolSafe on March 5 this year.

The audit identified four of the 23 lifeguards had expired Pool Lifeguard Practising Certificates - the minimum qualification required to be a pool lifeguard - and only nine first aid certificates were sighted.

Olivia Silverwood from PoolSafe said the renewed lifeguard certificates were missing because they had not yet been received from the workplace assessor.

Other queries raised in the audit were similar paperwork organisation issues.

Auditors deemed it unclear how many lifeguards should be on duty, where they should be stationed, who was in charge in emergencies - and what should be done in an emergency.

The audit also found discrepancies in rules - such as how old children needed to be before their caregiver could supervise from outside the pool, and the age at which they could swim unsupervised.

“In a number of cases, the required documentation was provided but was incorrectly labelled,” PoolSafe said in a statement.

All points raised by the assessor were addressed and Poolsafe certification was issued on March 19.

A spokesperson for Belgravia Leisure told the Herald, “If any of the recommendations from the audit represented material compliance breaches, Mt Albert would not have passed the audit”.

“Due to the robust nature and methodology implemented, it is standard practice that multiple corrective actions would be identified. That is the purpose and enables the development of improvement plans ... additionally it’s important to note that evidence not sighted does not suggest that it does not exist.

“We are still investigating at Mt Albert Aquatic Centre and corrective actions are already under way. We also expect that there will be further safety recommendations and corrective actions as a result of the investigation,” a spokeswoman said.

The Herald compared the Mt Albert pool audit to four other Auckland Council-managed pools including West Wave Pool & Leisure, Manurewa Pool & Leisure, Albany Stadium Pool and Lloyd Elsmore Pool and Leisure Centre.

The only point raised across those four pools was a missing sign at the Albany Stadium complex to warn when there was no lifeguard on duty.

The Herald also viewed a redacted version of the Belgravia-managed Franklin Pool and Leisure, which showed PoolSafe had flagged 14 points for improvement.

In a statement PoolSafe said it was “not usual” to have between 10-20 points requiring attention in a pool safety audit.

Auckland Council’s principal pools and leisure specialist Garth Dawson said pool safety audits were completed annually at all its pools to ensure safe systems and improvements.

‘There will be a drowning here one day’: Customer’s complaint to pool management

Meanwhile, a regular customer at Mt Albert Aquatic Centre told the Herald she had raised safety concerns with the Mt Albert complex manager in August 2023 several months before the boy’s near-drowning on 4 May.

Her email, sighted by the Herald, described lifeguards “chatting amongst themselves” and the customer said she later warned the manager “I believe there will be a drowning here one day”.

“I had had no response at all, not even an acknowledgment,” she said.

A 4-year-old boy was pulled from the water unconscious at Mt Albert Aquatic Centre. Photo / Supplied

Belgravia Leisure told the Herald that although they did not respond to her email, action was taken.

“I can confirm that upon receiving the email in question, within 90 minutes the manager had taken this feedback on board and forwarded to our Aquatic Coordinator,” a spokeswoman said.

“A verbal warning was also issued to the lifeguards.”

Kirsty Wynn is an Auckland-based journalist with more than 20 years experience in New Zealand newsrooms. She has covered everything from crime and social issues to the property market and consumer affairs.