When a man was found at the bottom of a quiet pool by another swimmer, not by the lifeguard…
What happened?
A forty-eight year-old man was swimming at a university pool as part of his rehabilitation following a spinal injury sustained while playing rugby. He had been paralysed from the neck down but had returned to 80% fitness.
He was a regular swimmer at the pool, which was 25m by 10m, with a deep and shallow end. On the day of the accident, there were two lifeguards on duty. Both were qualified. The man had spoken to the lifeguards before entering the water, so they knew he was swimming. He was using a mask and snorkel. The pool was not busy with less than fifteen swimmers in the water.
Lifeguard 1 was patrolling the deep end of the pool, lifeguard 2 the shallow end. Lifeguard 2 left his position at the deep end and was talking to lifeguard 2 and to two girls. The swimmer was in the deep end. During this period, the man must have got into difficulty, but was not spotted by either lifeguard. He was seen at the bottom of the pool by another swimmer, who alerted the lifeguards. They attempted resuscitation on the man but were unsuccessful. The lifeguards were alerted about fifty minutes after he entered the water.
The HSE prosecuted both the lifeguards for breaching their duty of care for the man (S7 of the HSWA). Both lifeguards pleaded not guilty.
Legal Outcome
Lifeguard 1 was found guilty, but the jury was unable to reach a majority decision regarding lifeguard 2. Lifeguard 1 was fined £215. The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to seek a retrial.
What can we learn from what happened?
There are obvious lessons to be learned regarding the need, the absolute necessity, to provide effective supervision of the pool by watching the water where any swimmers are, let alone a known swimmer who was recovering from a major spinal injury. These lessons are so obvious that they need no elaboration.
Probably the more valuable learning point is that this case serves as a reminder that individual lifeguards are just as subject to prosecution as managers or organisations.
If an individual’s actions are so independent of other influences (such as managerial or organisational), and if an individual has veered so far away of what they have been trained and instructed to do, then the law will focus on them. In this case, lifeguard 1 really messed up – he should have been where the risk was highest but either found himself distracted or deliberately abandoned his role. Either way, had he been where he was meant to be he would, at least, have given the man a chance of survival by either preventing him getting into difficulty, or minimising the time he spend under water.
Source of Information
BBC Online and other media reports