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Sorry, pool is shut ... it’s too wet to swim, says health ’n’ safety
Martin Bentham10 Mar 2009
Swimmers at an outdoor London pool have been warned they will have to leave the water if it rains too much because of health and safety rules.
The bizarre policy - the first known example of a pool declaring it is too wet to swim - has been introduced at the London Fields Lido in Hackney.
The reason is that it might be difficult for lifeguards to see the bottom of the pool if rain makes the water too cloudy.
Staff have been instructed to tell swimmers they will be forced to close the pool when the rainfall becomes excessive.
The new policy, which will raise renewed concerns about the impact of health and safety rules on swimming and other sports, emerged last weekend during a brief burst of heavy rain. Those arriving at the lido were greeted at reception by a senior member of staff who warned that the pool would be closed if the downpour intensified. In fact, the rain eased and the pool remained open.
One swimmer told the Evening Standard: "It was difficult to believe that what I was hearing was serious.
"The idea that it could be too wet to swim seems almost incredible, but that was actually what they were saying."
Hackney council confirmed that swimmers at the lido, which has proved hugely popular since re-opening in 2006, had been warned about the possible closure during heavy rain, but claimed that this would only happen on rare occasions.
"In exceptional circumstances the pool may require to be closed in order to protect users' safety," it said in a statement.
For example, exceptionally heavy rain or foggy conditions can distort the clarity of the water, restricting lifeguards' visibility and their ability to keep swimmers safe."
Other contentious health and safety curbs have been introduced at pools in recent years.
Many now insist that anyone taking more than two children under eight for a swim must be accompanied by at least one other adult. This means that it is impossible for a mother or father with three children to take them swimming alone.
Health and safety concerns also led to managers at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre permanently barring the public from four of the pools' eight lanes because lifeguards might not be able to see properly from one side of the water to the other. The rule was introduced even though senior staff had not experienced any such incident for decades.
Former civil servant Alan Treece, 64, was ordered out of Erith Sports Centre in Bromley in 2006 after diving into the pool, breaching new health and safety regulations which required swimmers to lower themselves into the water instead.
Reader views (24)
I've just started volunteering at a small outdoor pool, and another problem with heavy rain is that it dilutes the water and messes up the chlorine and pH levels. If the chlorine and pH aren't within the right tolerances then the water can become irritating to the skin, and the chlorine won't be as effective, which means bacteria can grow. Yuk!
- Pauline, Northleach, 29/05/2010 17:56
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I think the staff done the best jab. And same people in here don't have a clue what meane health and safety. Well done london filed staff.
- John, London, 26/02/2010 23:50
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Interesting scenario at the Olympics swimming. Starts raining, whistle blows and over the tannoy "everybody out". I don't know why the television companies do not walk around with cameras and do a programme called "Everyday life in England".
- Patricia, LONDON, 26/02/2010 22:50
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A sign: "This pool contains water and you may get wet. Wet swimmers do so at their own risk." Sorted.
- Paul, London, 26/02/2010 22:50
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Pehaps the rain was the wrong type?
- Mike, London England, 26/02/2010 22:50
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This seems perfectly a reasonable policy; replace the headline with "too foggy to swim" and it makes perfect sense. It would obviously be front-page news if a pool didn't care, and a swimmer drowned as a result of poor visibility.
- Ben, London, 26/02/2010 22:50
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With all due respect, Dave Davies, you're wrong. They already have.
- Nick (Expat), Hong Kong, 26/02/2010 22:50
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The really funny thing is we let them get away with it. This is a public facility, paid for with our tax money. Why on earth are we not consulted?
- Mark, London, 26/02/2010 22:50
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I am life guard my self, but i think London field lido staff done the good think respekting the rules and the rules are from health and safety!! you should know haw many acsidents happen in te past bocouse the rules no been respectit!!
- Dave, LONDON ENGLAND, 26/02/2010 22:50
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I think the staff done the best jab respecting the rules. I can gather information on the numbers of death caused by inappoprite procedures in pool safety, or the life guards/managers of pools not following H&S ,Procedures. Just to quote the deathsof the child in Essex last year, Should create on undderstanding of the importanoe of health and safety not only that but 2 life guard along side the managers at wolverhampton university being prosecuted for not follwing procedure and resulting deaths of ussers!!
- Meti, London England, 26/02/2010 22:50
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Idiots are taking over the country.
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, Hants, 26/02/2010 22:50
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It is this nonsense beauracracy that made me leave the UK as it was becoming unbearable! Civil liberties are being removed one by one.
- Andrew, Cape Town, South Africa, 26/02/2010 22:50
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Another example of "Bonkers Britain"
- Angry Of Alton, Alton UK, 26/02/2010 22:50
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I doubt that this has anything do with the “Health and Safety” bogyman and everything to do with people having increased access to justice for claims of negligence (not itself a bad thing). Clearly the council owes a duty of care to the swimmers and if someone is injured and it is proved that by not closing the pool in dangerous conditions the council was in breach of their duty then the person injured could claim large sums in compensation, which would be paid from our council taxes, then there would be uproar that our money was being wasted on compensation claims that were entirely preventable. Sounds like the councils in question are being eminently sensible to me.
- Nj, London, 26/02/2010 22:50
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Why is it that the people who have the authority to make these rules are such idiots?
The only scarier thing is that there are idiots abocve them who recruited them.
- Martin H. Watson, Teddington, 26/02/2010 22:50
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health and safety gone mad as a kid i was over there ( lived ax the road ) and viccy park lido all through the summer and i can never remember FOG let alone it being shut for RAIN .
- Steve, braintree, 26/02/2010 22:50
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Next on the agenda: Rules for breathing.
- Trunk, US, 26/02/2010 22:50
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This Health and Safety Executive need to be audited before they finish off this county.
Just living is a danger, safer to be 6 foot under!
- Tony Islander, Herts, 26/02/2010 22:50
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It seems to me that the 'safety first' mafia in the UK are once again spoiling everyone elses fun with their excessive vigilance with regard to what should merely be a simple case of recreation.
- Tom, Cornwall, NY, USA, 26/02/2010 22:50
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I sympathise with this crazy ruling of not swimming in the rain. I have to put with the same crazy thing When i swim at the open air Pool at Ashby-De-La- Zouch in Leicestershire. I love nothing better than swimming outdoors no smell of chlorine for a start. If i lived lived near London the first thing i would do is go and join the Serpentine Swimming Club so i could swim outdoors all through the year
- Jonathan Hill, Swadlincote UK, 26/02/2010 22:50
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Health & Safety rules are dominating commonsense all over the world. How many people drown in public pools ?? It seems a case of over protection.Our much loved,volunteer managed outdoor Pool at Edgeware was "Taken over" by the Council with the excuse of Health and Safety rules. Consequently it was run down , hours reduced , then closed and demolished .Now the local council are determined to sell the public land of the pool site which the locals are campaigning against in order to rebuild another pool .It seems as if there is a worldwide" saving pools" crisis. Councils listen to dollars and cents instead of people with sense. N Z drowning statistics are rising too, with school pools being closed at an alarming rate and teaching swimming not seen as a priority.Perhaps we need a world wide campaign to add weight to our cause.
www.info@stalbans-pavilionandpool.org
-Friends of Edgeware Ch Ch NZ
-St Albans Swimming Club. Ch Ch NZ
-Valerie Somerville: paul.valerie@actrix.co.nz
- Valerie Somerville, Christchurch , New Zealand, 26/02/2010 22:50
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I guess that means that swimming in the Serpentine and the sea is out forever then !
- Egbert, London, England, 26/02/2010 22:50
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It would be nice to hear the views of a named elected member of Hackney Council rather than an anonymous junior member of staff.
- Patrick, Dalston, 26/02/2010 22:50
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I laughed in disbelief when I read the headline, but when you read the reason - that perhaps the water would be too cloudy for the lifeguards to see the bottom of the pool - there is a little common sense there. Imagine if a child was left on the bottom of the pool because a lifeguard could not see them clearly... I am usually the first to moan at 'elf and safety rules, as they are generally bonkers, but I can see the reasoning behind this one.
- Shirley, London, 26/02/2010 22:50
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