Gold Coast Aquatic Centre: Dad haunted by image of his child’s limp body after she fell headfirst onto concrete from pool’s 3m diving board
A father has revealed he is still disturbed by the image of his daughter lying ‘lifeless’ on concrete after falling from a 10ft diving board.
The distressed father’s victim impact statement was read out at the Southport Magistrates Court on Wednesday after the Gold Coast City Council pleaded guilty to endangering a person’s life by failing to comply with a health and safety duty.
The court heard the four-year-old girl fell after slipping between the crash barriers next to the diving board and landing on her head on the concrete below on January 3, 2021.
She suffered a severe concussion and multiple fractures to her skull and spine, but recovered after spending more than a week in hospital.
Despite more than three years having passed since the incident, the father said he is mentally scarred by the incident.
A father is still haunted by the image of his daughter after she fell headfirst onto concrete from a 3m diving board at the Gold Coast Aquatic Center (pictured) – the girl suffered multiple fractures but later recovered
Work Health and Safety (WHS) chief prosecutor Gretchan McKinley said the family’s victim impact statement showed they had all been deeply affected by the incident.
“Her father describes hearing the sound her head made as it hit the concrete and the image of her lifeless body haunting him,” Ms McKinley told the court. Gold Coast Bulletin reports.
‘Along with the impact on her older sister… who is also severely affected and suffers from panic attacks.’
It was also revealed that the young victim had been told not to take part in childhood activities such as cycling or scooter riding, or even jumping, to reduce the chance of hindering her recovery.
“(The family) also describe the aftermath at home, the emotional outbursts, the brain fatigue, headaches (and) dizziness,” Ms McKinley said.
The court heard the girl and her sister were told by a lifeguard on duty that they would be safe even if they did not pay the extra fee to use the diving board.
The council’s lawyer, Christopher Murdoch, said the council accepted it was an ‘omission’ not to carry out a specific risk assessment of the diving complex.
He told the court that the risk of someone falling off the board was “in retrospect… reasonably foreseeable.”
The January 2021 incident resulted in the Gold Coast City Council being fined $125,000 for an occupational health and safety breach (pictured, Gold Coast Aquatic Centre)
Mr Murdoch told the court that numerous safety measures were in place at the time of the incident, including lifeguards, signage and rules that children under 12 must be closely supervised by an adult.
He also said the pool was closed to the public for a short time and a number of other measures have since been introduced, including extra staff training and vertical bars on the sides of the board.
The diving tower is mainly used for training and events by the Paradise Diving Club which trains ‘beginners to pros’, while the public must pay a fee to use the boards.
Magistrate Joan White said that although the council had completed a risk assessment of the entire centre, it had ‘not carried out a specific risk assessment in relation to the use of the diving facilities by members of the public’.
Ms White also accepted that this was the council’s first breach of WHS standards and that the diving tower met building standards as it was monitored by lifeguards.
She imposed a $125,000 fine and also ordered the city to pay $1,601.40 in court costs.