NEGLECTFUL lifeguards, poor hygiene and missing safety equipment were the most common faults found in a survey of Irish swimming pools.
The survey, carried out on 45 pools in the Republic and the North, concludes that "almost all the pools" needed significant improvements. It found that lifeguards in 27 per cent of pools "failed swimmers by their lack of vigilance", which made facilities potentially dangerous.
It is particularly critical of hygiene standards, which it concludes are "not acceptable." Dirty, poorly maintained changing rooms and toilets were a feature of 33 per cent of pools - "filthy footpaths were another horror identified" - while 35 per cent of pools fell well below accepted hygiene standards.
The survey, carried out early last year by the Consumer Association of Ireland, includes evaluation of local authority, private and hotel pools - a total of about 230, North and South. Its findings are published in this month's Consumer Choice magazine.
Inadequate warning signs proved the single biggest defect, the CAI found. Despite clear recommendations in various pool safety guidelines, half of the pools had defects in this area.
These related to signs being too small, missing or too few. Inadequate or Poorly lit emergency exits were found in 40 per cent of pools.
Swimming is the second most popular sporting activity in Ireland. While drownings in pools are relatively rare, two teenagers have died in separate accidents in the past two years.
The risk to pool users, however, is heightened by the poor condition and age of pools and lack of legislative backing for effective implementation of guidelines, the survey finds. More than 30 per cent of pools generally, and 70 per cent of local authority pools, are more than 23 years old.
In addition, poor vigilance is all too evident. "Typically, lifeguards (in 27 per cent of pools) wandered in and out of the pool area, allowed children to dive into the shallow end or failed to keep a close eye on swimmers.
Three pools had no lifeguards. Another two had "blind spots" where it was impossible to see bathers. Failure to wear appropriate lifeguard markings was recorded in 12 pools (27 per cent).
Missing or broken safety equipment, unsafe ladders and grab rails and poor depth markings were other shortcomings.
Pool inspections are carried out by environmental health officers. These cover water quality, changing room conditions, hygiene and first aid provisions.
"However, inspectors' recommendations are advisory. As there is no statutory backing for inspections, pool managers can ignore them if they wish. Lack of legislation means inspections, can be a low priority for EHOs.
The CAI was disturbed to discover that there is no specific legislation on pool safety. "Pool managers don't even have to provide a lifeguard. At the very least pool managers should be legally obliged to provide a qualified lifeguard," a CAI spokeswoman said.
The main piece of safety legislation, she added, does not apply directly to public safety at swimming pools.
