‘Likely to fail’: Major safety issue at Sunshine Coast pool

A previously undetected safety issue at a popular public pool has forced its sudden closure, with authorities thankful no-one was injured as urgent works begin.

The aquatic centre light poles had likely been a hazard for years and gone undetected. Photo: supplied.

A major safety issue that went undetected for years has forced a popular Sunshine Coast swimming pool to suddenly close after it was revealed critical footings were “likely to fail”.

Swimfit Cotton Tree made the temporary closure announcement on Wednesday February 7, citing issues with the aquatic centre light poles and infrastructure.

Sunshine Coast councillor Joe Natoli said he was made aware of the issue late Wednesday afternoon after routine safety inspections at the pool revealed the light poles in the centre did not have the required footings.

“A council maintenance team discovered the footings were likely to fail and the lights likely to fall in extreme winds, once the council found out they have shut the pool down,” Cr Natoli said.

“It is not so much they are damaged but more they were not initially designed to take strong winds and they have been there quite a long time.

“We have been told there would have always been a danger with these footings and that we are lucky, that under extreme winds these haven’t fallen down,” he said.

Cotton Tree pool was found to have a major safety issue and subsequently closed on Wednesday, February 7. Photo: supplied

Cr Natoli said it may be the case older methods of council maintenance or a lack or monitoring technology have meant the safety hazard was missed on previous inspections.

“There are new techniques employed all the time and new equipment that allows council to better investigate infrastructure like this, and all I know is they have only picked up on the issue this time,” Cr Natoli said.

“The lights will come down and there will be temporary lights in the meantime.

“We can’t take the risk that in extreme weather one of these footings may fail, we are just thankful we didn’t have an experience where one of those poles has fallen and injured someone,” he said.

The emergency works are expected to last one week, with the pool expected to reopen with temporary lights until permanent footings are in place.