Gold Coast City Council fined six-figure sum after girl, 4, seriously injured in diving platform fall

A four-year-old has plunged headfirst into concrete from the dive board at the council’s main pool complex, with her family’s trauma and her injuries laid bare in court. Read how it happened

The father of a four-year-old girl who fell metres from a diving platform at a council-owned pool complex is haunted by the memory of his daughter’s lifeless body, a court has been told.

Gold Coast City Council was slapped with a $125,000 fine in Southport Magistrates Court on Wednesday, after pleading guilty to failing to comply with a health and safety duty putting a person at risk of death or serious injury.

The court was told the little girl slipped through the guard rail and plummeted headfirst to the concrete below while waiting to use the 3m diving platform at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre on January 3, 2021.

She suffered serious injuries – including fractures to her skull and vertebrae – and hospitalised for almost a week.

Work Health and Safety (WHS) prosecutor Gretchen McKinley said the girl’s family had not paid the extra fee for her and her six-year-old sister to use the diving tower at the Southport complex, but their father was assured by an on-duty lifeguard that it was safe for them to jump.

Generic photos of Aquatic Centre. 23 December 2023 Gold Coast Picture by Richard Gosling

Ms McKinley said a victim impact statement from the girl’s family revealed while the girl’s fractures had since healed, her family’s trauma endured.

“Her father describes hearing the sound her head made when it hit the concrete, and the image of her lifeless body haunts him,” she said.

“(She) was not allowed to scooter, ride a bike, jump, or anything that may affect her healing in the aftermath.

“They also describe the aftermath at home – the emotional outbursts, the brain fatigue, headaches (and) dizziness, together with the impact on her older sister … who has also been severely impacted and suffers panic attacks.”

Defence barrister Christopher Murdoch said the council accepted it was “an omission” to not complete a specific risk assessment for the diving tower being used by members of the public, which could have identified the risk of someone falling near the back of the platform.

Gold Coast Aquatic Centre. Picture by Scott Fletcher

Mr Murdoch said comprehensive safety measures were already in place including multiple lifeguards, safety signage, and children under 12 needing to be closely supervised by an adult.

“(It’s) a very unfortunate and regrettable circumstance where a little girl has fallen through the guard rail that was in place,” he said.

“It’s a risk that of course with the benefit of hindsight one can see was reasonably foreseeable, but in my submission Your Honour wouldn’t consider it … an obvious risk of which my client ought to be acutely aware.”

The court was told the diving tower was closed to the public following the incident and that GCCC had since implemented further safety measures and staff training, including adding vertical bars to parts of the guard rails.

Magistrate Joan White said she accepted it was the council’s first WHS breach, and that the diving tower met building standards with access closely monitored at the time.

Ms White also found concerns about “uncontrollable patrons” raised in an email from a lifeguard to senior management months earlier had not played a role in the girl’s fall.

“While the (council) had conducted a risk assessment of the centre, it had not undertaken a specific risk assessment in relation to the use of the diving facilities by members of the public,” she said.

GCCC was also ordered to pay $1601.40 in court costs. No conviction was recorded.