Domestic swimming pool safety vital

by Manjula Fernando

Who or what is to be blamed for the death of the five-year-old who drowned in a domestic pool. Is it the irresponsibility of the parents or was it their interest in earning money, leaving the child in the care of an elderly parent? Is there a safety dimension too to this tragic incident?

An unprotected swimming pool

This is left to the experts and law enforcement authorities to find the answers.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka, a country where there is a construction boom and where swimming pools in private residences have become the latest fad, even among the middle class, the necessity of a house code which addresses such safety aspects will not be a feeling borne out of paranoia.

It will soon prove to be detrimental, because not just in large swimming pools, experts warn, a toddler could find his watery grave even in a small pond.

Director, Human Settlements Planning and Training Division of the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) said there are no guidelines regarding swimming pools in private residences at the moment, except in areas prone to natural calamities such as landslides.

Timely issue

The rules at the time of passing a housing plan by the local government authorities will be to check where the toilet pit should be, the distance to a house from a main road, a sub road or placing the windows, roof, sewerage system and the parapet wall - but there is no ruling with regard to swimming pools.

"This is a timely issue that needs to be taken into consideration," the Director said. NBRO is in the process of mooting a national building code that will spell out guidelines for tall structures in the future.

Some countries have specific and strict laws for private pools. In the State of New Jersey in the US, a private pool in a domestic property requires a protective fence of four feet high to protect toddlers and young kids from accidental falls.

Deep end

Speaking about the hard realities in his trade, Nalinda Gunasekera who is a private contractor of swimming pools operating from Induruwa said swimming pool accidents could become a real issue in time to come.

According to the laws governing the tourism sector, tourist hotels are prohibited from having a deep end deeper than five feet unless there are life guards on watch every time the pool is open for guests. But domestic pools are not governed by these laws.

"Since there is a lacuna in the law, the tendency is to give more prominence to the theme of the house design than the safety aspect," he said adding that he had faced situations where the deep end ladder which is a must in any pool, has been altered or omitted by the architect to protect the 'look' of the house.

A spokesperson for the Piliyandala police said that they are not pursuing the case with regard to Shavindu's death. It has been deemed as an accidental death. The Coroner reprimanded the parents for recklessness and not ensuring the safety of their offspring.

But can we simply forget the fact that the swimming pool in the neighboring house was not secured or protected to prevent an accidental fall by small children, moreso because it was owned by a doctor?

Little children make play things out of peculiar objects - a saucepan and a spoon, a broken piece of plastic, or an odd shaped stone and water is fascinating to any child.

Their young and trusting minds are too obsessed to see the danger lurking under the tranquil surface of a glistening swimming pool or any water body for that matter. The recent tragic incident of a five-year-old's death in Suwarapola, Piliyandala is ample proof of this. Drowning is a frequent cause of accidental death for children in Sri Lanka, as much as it is around the world.

This is the leading cause of accident-related deaths for children aged 1-4. According to the WHO, water claims the lives of an estimated 375,000 persons every year and nearly half of them are children and young adults.

Tragic incident

But the International Life Saving Federation put the number of deaths by drowning at 1.2 million in the world a year, that is two persons per minute. Reports say over 1000 Sri Lankans drown every year.

Hardly a day passes in Sri Lanka without the news of a child or a baby being drowned in a river, a canal, an unprotected well, in a small bucket or a pool. To add insult to injury, it has become the norm for some distressed parents to throw their children into the river before committing suicide.

As for five- year- old Shavindu Ayomal of Suwarapola, Piliyandala, this obsession with the neighbour's swimming pool cost him his life last Sunday. The child's entry to the unprotected poolside, the accidental fall and his struggle for a breath of air were all captured in the CCTV cameras at the poolside.

It was only the previous day that little Shavindu, begged his father to take him to see the swimming pool in the house across the road. The place 50 metres away was the residence of a specialist doctor.

According to the police report, filed by PC Wasantha of Piliyandala Police, little Shavindu had been playing with his elder brother and his friend at home on the fateful day. The two were entrusted to the care of the grandfather while the parents were away at work.

When the grandfather went away for a brief moment to fetch his 'hospital clinic card', the boy had wandered alone to the 'house with the pool'. The entrance to the poolside was unlocked and he had gone inside to get a closer look at what he liked so much. Half an hour later his lifeless body was found by the two elder kids. Friends of the family who rushed in pulled out Shavindu 's body from the pool and he was admitted to Kalubowila hospital.

Assistant Judicial Medical Officer of Kalubowila Hospital Ruchira Nadira determined the cause of death as drowning.

This latest incident has left many unanswered questions in the minds of rational thinking elders.