A coroner has found that no one should face charges over the death of a teenager at a spa pool in Queensland, Australia, but has made a series of recommendations to make public spa pools safer to use in the future.
The 13-year-old girl, Amanda Helen Boyce, of Toowoomba, was on holiday with friends at the Seahaven Resort at Noosa Heads in December 2001 when she became trapped underwater in the resort’s spa area when her hair became tangled in the spa pool’s intake valve.
The inquest at the Brisbane Magistrates Court heard how Amanda had put her head under water and then slid off the submerged seat inside the spa and sank to the bottom.
Despite the efforts of a number of qualified people, including lifesavers and a doctor, Amanda was eventually freed from the spa pool between 10 and 20 minutes later but never regained consciousness.
Her life support was turned off in Brisbane Royal Children’s Hospital four days later.
Following the accident, the spa was closed and never used again.
At the inquest, a Workplace Health and Safety adviser found the accident occurred as a result of design and operational deficiencies within the spa.
One of the outflow outlet’s plastic suction point covers at the bottom of the spa pool had part of a diving goggle stuck into it, and the cover was noted as not being in accordance with the national standard.
Seahaven Resorts had already pleaded guilty to breaching workplace health and safety regulations and was ordered to pay AUS$7,500 (US$5,860, 4,470 euro, £3,000) plus AUS$2,000 (US$1560, 1,190 euro, £800) investigation costs.
The coroner presiding over the case, Ray Rinaudo, made a number of recommendations for public spa pools to adopt. These included that they comply with the relevant Australian Standard, or else be brought into compliance and that public spa pool owners need to control the suction pipe flow velocity, fit a pressure gauge to the pump suction and fit both emergency spa pool stops and alarms.
Rinaudo also noted that, two years ago, the director of legal and prosecutions services and Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, wrote to the deputy State Coroner, advising that a draft Health and Safety Alert – Public Spa Pools, had been prepared and was in consultation phase. This document now needs to be upgraded to incorporate the Coroner’s latest recommendations and be republished. Details: www.justice.qld.gov.au
