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The Brampton Guardian
Boy, 6, dies after pulled from city swimming pool
The Brampton Guardian
Thursday August 21 2008
PAM DOUGLAS
 
BRAMPTON - A six-year-old Brampton boy died after being pulled without vital signs from the shallow end of the Earnscliffe Recreation Centre swimming pool during a privately run summer camp last week.

There were three lifeguards on duty on Monday, Aug. 11, plus at least one supervisor from the private camp run by Royal City Soccer Club, based out of Burlington, according to city officials. Between 16 and 18 children were in the pool, between 6 and 13 years of age.

City officials called the death a tragedy and an unfortunate accident, but said the city-employed lifeguards on duty followed all proper procedures and Ontario regulations.

“They did everything that they possibly could,” said Brampton fire Chief Andy MacDonald, who is also acting commissioner of community services this week. “All the protocols were followed, our protocols and the Lifesaving Society’s protocols.”

MacDonald said the boy was pulled out of the water very quickly.

At 1:10 p.m. the little boy, who could not swim and whose name police are not releasing, was spotted by a lifeguard on the bottom of the pool in the shallow end. Lifeguards pulled him out and performed CPR. He was rushed to Brampton Civic Hospital, then taken to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children where he was pronounced dead the next day. Police say an autopsy has revealed he died of post-immersion syndrome, which can develop in near-drowning victims.

Police reports did not indicate the boy had any previous medical problems.
However, city spokesperson Sheri DeCarlo said, until a coroner’s report is completed, it is “premature to speculate on the cause of this accidental death.”

The boy’s funeral was Tuesday. His parents said they are too distraught to speak to the media about his death.

A man who answered the phone at the soccer camp office said the club’s officials will not comment.

“We’re not speaking to the media on this. We’re trying to give the parents some space and time,” he said.

MacDonald said the city has conducted an internal review of the incident and has determined no procedural changes were identified to prevent similar future tragedies.

He pointed out that Ontario law requires one lifeguard per 30 people in a public swimming pool, so the city’s full compliment of three lifeguards for 18 was well above the regulation.

The city’s lifeguards either meet or exceed the Lifesaving Society’s training standards, he added.

MacDonald said if a coroner’s review of the boy’s death makes suggestions on how safety could be increased, the city would consider adopting those suggestions.
DeCarlo said all city staff feels sympathy for the little boy’s family.

“It really is a tragedy. It was an unfortunate accident,” she said.

Drownings in supervised public pools are extremely rare, according to Michael Shane, the safety management director of the Life Saving Society of Canada’s Ontario branch.
“In a year, there are typically none. There may be one, or two, but it is typically zero,” he said.
And that is because there are good regulations in place, and the training of lifeguards is “world class”, he said.

“Lifeguards go through 200 to 300 hours of training before they step foot on the deck,” he said.
However, “Sometimes, unfortunate incidents occur,” he said.

Depending on age and circumstances, someone can drown in as little as 20 to 30 seconds, he said.

“They can drown in very shallow water,” he said. “Drownings have occurred in the shallow ends of swimming pools.”

He agreed it is not typically where one would expect a drowning to happen, and that is why the society continues to promote its Swim to Survive Program. The government-funded program teaches Grade 3 students survival skills in and around water.

“We’ve trained a lot of Grade 3 students here in Ontario,” he said.

The Ontario regulation for public pool supervision is one lifeguard for every 30 people. That standard varies widely across the country. For instance, in British Columbia, the regulation is a ratio of 1 to 100 and there is no mandatory ratio in New Brunswick, according to the Lifesaving Society.

The city requires children to perform a swim test to swim in the deep end of a pool, but the boy did not do that test and remained in the shallow end, according to city officials.
However, it was unclear at press time if the city follows a strict admission standard that, right now, is recommended but not mandatory for public pool operators.

The coroner recommended the admission standard three years ago following the drowning death of a 4-year-old boy in a Toronto public pool in 2002.

The Lifesaving Society has been pushing the provincial government to make the standard a mandatory regulation as part of the Health Protection and Promotion Act, which governs safety regulations at public swimming pools.

The standard requires all non-swimmers who are under the age of 10 be accompanied by a parent or guardian who is directly responsible for their safety at a ratio of four children to one parent or guardian.

Shane said the parent or guardian should be in the pool and within arm’s length of the non-swimmer.

The ministry has indicated the intention to make the standard a mandatory regulation, but that hasn’t happened yet, according to Shane.

He said the society has been advocating the standard for more than 10 years, even before the Toronto death, with one difference— the society recommends a ratio of two non-swimmers to one parent or guardian.
For now, the admission standard remains completely voluntary, he said.

The Royal City Soccer Club’s Web site promises a ratio of one councillor for every 10 children during the soccer portion of the camp, with a smaller ratio for children 7 years and younger during the swimming session.

“We abide by the rules and regulations governing the specific pool at your camp location,” the Web site reads.

There have been no drowning deaths at city pools in the past 20 years. In February, 2006 a 14-year-old boy was pulled unconscious from the swimming pool at Loafer’s Lake Recreation Centre during a public swim with his family. An inquest later revealed the cause of his death to be cardiac arrhythmia.