‘Adequate’ supervision before boy’s near-drowning at Runcorn pool, court told

A pool company says its actions were ‘adequate’ on the day a five-year-old boy, who later died, near-drowned at one of its Brisbane venues.

A pool management company has argued they met their safety obligations on the day a yarn boy died at Runcorn Aquatic Centre. File picture

A Brisbane pool company has claimed their actions were “adequate” on the day a five-year-old boy near-drowned and later died in hospital.

Five-year-old Ali Alabedi had been swimming at Runcorn Aquatic Centre in November 2019, when he crossed from a separated shallow area to the main pool.

Ali, who had been at the pool with his family, was rescued from the water but later died in hospital.

The Office of Work Health and Safety Prosecutor allege the indoor pool was unsupervised for around 13 minutes prior to the incident, while a 19-year-old was placed in charge of the facility.

The company which operated the pool, City Venue Management Pty Ltd, has since faced trial at Brisbane Magistrates Court over the incident.

They pleaded not guilty to one count of failure to comply with health and safety duty (category 2).

At a hearing on Friday, defence barrister Kristi Riedel submitted on behalf of City Venue Management that her client had met their responsibilities on the day in question.

“We say that what was done was adequate,” she said.

Ms Riedel said the company’s supervision plan had been complied with that day, with four lifeguards on duty and less than 100 patrons.

She argued the prosecution’s assertion there should have been constant supervision was a “misunderstanding of what is reasonably practicable”.

However, barrister Joshua Underwood submitted on behalf of the OWHSP that City Venue Management was responsible for the “failure of its workers” to ensure the facility was properly supervised.

“It does not matter how many lifeguards were on duty. What matters is what they were doing,” Mr Underwood said.

“It was not a matter of mere presence … what matters is whether they were performing the task required.”

Mr Underwood said Ali’s mother had given evidence that she had seen a lifeguard supervising the area just before the incident happened.

However, he submitted “she must have been honestly mistaken”.

Mr Underwood said CCTV footage showed that no lifeguard roamed around the indoor pool for 13 minutes and 25 seconds prior to the incident.

“All lifeguards rushed from separate locations, and the guard allocated to the indoor pool rushed from the front counter.”

Mr Underwood said the lifeguard allocated to that area had given evidence during the trial that he had been at the front counter for enough time to serve a few customers before the alarm was raised.

“The prosecution’s submission is that the evidence excludes the reasonable possibility that a lifeguard was watching the indoor pool just before the incident,” Mr Underwood said.

Magistrate Rosemary Gilbert will deliver her verdict on a date to be set.

Originally published as ‘Adequate’ supervision before boy’s near-drowning at Runcorn pool, court told