Injuries at $27.5 million Campbelltown leisure centre forcing council to spend more than $20,000 to protect patrons

DOZENS of people have been injured at a popular Adelaide leisure centre less than two years after a $27.5 million makeover, forcing the local council to spend more than $20,000 to protect patrons.

Dozens have been hurt in slip injuries in the ARC Campbelltown, including children cutting their feet in the learn-to-swim pool. Picture: Roger Wyman

AN elderly swimmer taken to hospital with a suspected ruptured kidney was among those slip injuries that has forced Campbelltown Council to spend more than $20,000 to protect patrons at its popular leisure centre less than two years after it underwent a $27.5 million publicly funded upgrade.

The council has also commissioned independent slip testing as part of a suite of “reactive” and “preventative” measures to prevent further fall injuries in the swimming pool of the redeveloped Campbelltown leisure centre, renamed the ARC Campbelltown, which reopened in July 2016.

Patrons also aired their concerns on Facebook about the slipperiness of the pool concourse at the Lower North East Rd leisure centre.

The Advertiser has obtained incident reports logged by centre staff since the building reopened.

Among dozens of injuries revealed through a Freedom of Information request were:

A 70-YEAR-OLD man who slipped near main grandstand, hit his back on the corner of a step and was taken to hospital after suspecting he had ruptured a kidney;

A 64-YEAR-OLD woman who “suddenly slipped” while walking on the concrete deck hitting the back of her head;

AN 11-YEAR-OLD girl who experienced breathing problems and required first-aid when she slipped while walking in the pool area and;

A MOTHER slipped who in the female change rooms while holding her son who fell on his back.

Campbelltown Council has spent more than $20,000 on preventative measures to stop people slipping over at the recently upgraded ARC Campelltown leisure centre. Picture: Roy Vandervegt/AAP

Messenger Newspapers reported in November 2016 that the council had hired divers to remove sharp grout from between tiles in the learn-to-swim pool after receiving at least one complaint a week about children cutting their feet.

Council chief executive Paul Di Iulio said drainage had been identified among construction defects attributed to slipping but said it was ‘more about the general continual wetness” of the concourse.

“Although water is not pooling the surface is continually wet hence other mechanical measures have been put in place to essentially remove the wetness,” he said.

“There is also an educational element to addressing this concern as people are running and slipping despite warnings and notices and in some instances wearing inappropriate footwear and slipping.”

He said the builder paid to micro-etch the surface of the pool concourse at its own cost in December 2016 and that the council has spent about $17,000 on equipment and specialty cleans to provide a solution to the slipping problem.

Mr Di Iulio said the council started six-monthly independent slip testing in May 2017, at a cost of $450 a test and spent $2500

He said the pool deck had been fully compliant and above Australian Standards since the most recent test in December and that incidents and complaints had been “largely resolved”.

He said the council will also spend another $2500 on anti-slip treatments in the change rooms.

The Federal Government invested $7.5 million, the South Australian Government $3 million and the council $17 million to fund the project.