A CORONER has called on swimming pool operators to ban the use of mobile phones by lifeguards after a 10-year-old boy drowned at a Dublin pool.
Peter Whelan, Whitestown Avenue, Dublin, was pulled by a fellow swimmer from the bottom of the 25-metre pool at Coolmine sports complex on March 1st, 2008.
Kevin Hayes told an inquest into the boy’s death at Dublin County Coroner’s Court yesterday that he dived down and grabbed the boy, whom he saw lying face down in the deep end of the pool, and pulled him to the surface.
Peter, who was not breathing and who was yellow, was taken to Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, where he was pronounced dead at 4.30pm, just over an hour after the incident.
The inquest heard that the lifeguard on duty at the time, Bobby Ledden, had his mobile on him while on duty and had sent a few text messages over the course of his work. He was not sending texts at the time of the incident, he told the coroner. He agreed that using a mobile phone while on duty was not advisable.
Sports centre manager Michael Philips said there was an unwritten rule that lifeguards should not use mobile phones, but the matter had not been raised at safety reviews in the year or two before the incident.
He said memos had been sent out to staff on the matter before 2004, the year Mr Ledden began working at the facility.
The use of mobile phones by lifeguards was now strictly banned, the inquest heard.
Mr Ledden was the only lifeguard on duty at the time of the incident and he was sitting on an ordinary plastic chair at the shallow end of the pool.
Guidelines stipulate that a minimum of one lifeguard is required for to 40 swimmers, with two lifeguards required for 60 swimmers and three for 80, Mr Philips said.
He added that a higher chair was unsuitable for the layout of the pool, which was built in 1974, and that the lifeguard sat at the shallow end as that was where most of the pool’s customers were, particularly those who could not swim. There were 33 people in the pool at the time.
Mr Ledden told the court that at about 3.25pm, he heard a loud shout and observed an adult swimmer holding a young boy.
The lifeguard hit the emergency button and went immediately to Peter’s assistance, administering CPR to the boy, who was not breathing, with the aid of a colleague.
The inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death under the direction of coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty.
The jurors called for better communication between staff members, a complete ban of mobile phones in pools everywhere and limited access to the deep end of the pool by children to be permitted only where parental consent has been obtained or proof that the child can swim.
Dr Geraghty said the death was very tragic and said he would be calling on pool operators to ban the use of mobile phones by lifeguards.
After the inquest, Peter’s mother Elizabeth Valentine welcomed the verdict and the jury’s recommendations. “We’re very happy, especially about the mobile phones. There should be a blanket ban across all swimming pools.
Peter’s uncle Noel Whelan said the DPP had directed no criminal prosecution in the case.