November 16, 2024: court cases you should know about
Good Morning,
I am a day late today, but hopefully not a dollar short! In this week's newsletter, I want to highlight a few legal cases that - in my opinion - are relevant to things we do in the aquatic industry. I understand the law in every province/state/territory is quite different, but I feel these events should be harbingers of change or shifts in our thinking.
A note on methodology: many of the best, comprehensive legal briefs exist behind a paywall, so I've cited articles that are easy to access; you may need to google for more details depending on your personal level of interest.
Chlorine Burn Victim Receives $26 Million Settlement
A child was burned so badly by swimming in a pool with untested water - and a high pH - that he spent a week in hospital and had skin debrided. The key takeaway? Falsifying water chemistry test results - the tests were not physically completed that day - can have dire consequences if there's been an undetected chemical overfeed. I've seen lots of falsified operating records over the years as a management consultant doing facility audits. Many people in management are quasi-aware this is (occasionally) happening at their property, but have you ever considered the actual consequences of not addressing this issue?!
Myrtle Beach lifeguard company agrees to $1 million payout in wake of 2020 drowning
Too many aquatic facilities rely on lifeguards to complete daily duties to keep the facility running. These range from water chemistry tests to janitorial duties, bather stats, admission transactions, etc. And the lifeguards get written up when these tasks do not get completed because they're occupied lifeguarding (no extra work hours or bodies are provided.) This lawsuit showcases the employer's negligence, requiring lifeguards to meet daily sales targets for beach chair rentals, taking lifeguards away from their primary water safety and drowning prevention. For indoor swimming pools, I see this problem occur when the org structure is simply too small or the daily task list too long for what lifeguards can be reasonably expected to do it if the pool ends up being busy.
Saskatchewan’s highest court denies university’s appeal in swimming accident
In what is still (to my knowledge) the largest legal settlement related to an aquatic injury in Canada, at the center of this case is the issue of the 50m swimming pool's water level at the University of Regina (Saskatchewan) when Miranda Biletski dove in during swim team practice as a minor. There were no records of makeup water being added over the previous few months, and - if the water level was low on the day of the injury - it would have fallen below the minimum World Aquatic (formerly FINA) safe diving standard. The bottom line? Documentation matters. Without it, you can't inspect what you expect. Common practices are not necessarily the BEST practices.
PLEASE READ: Waivers of Liability Must Be Clearly Identified To Be Effective
In this incident, a ski resort in British Columbia claimed an injured snowboarder had waived liability due to the fine print (waiver) on the back of the lift ticket. This precedent-setting case forwarded to me by a client (who is also lawyer) highlighted that it is no longer reasonable to assume the customer has understood the risks of the activity based on mere signage or forms; there must now be reasonable steps taken by the facility and/or staff to ensure terms and conditions are read and understood. You might think the end user is personally responsible for not reading what's put in front of them, but - if a pattern can be shown that the communication is ineffective - the burden could fall on the facility or organization for not doing enough.
Here's a few other interesting things I read this week -
Work Wives Are Going Extinct
Aquatic facilities are never going to be fully operated or staffed remotely. This article highlights “a combination of personal and professional bondedness” and “in-this-together attitude" that's being lost in other workplaces and industries. Aquatics isn't perfect, but this is one benefit of the collaborative, physical work a lot of us do.
Understanding Learning Styles: A Key to Great Results
I'm working my way through the stack of World Waterpark Association magazines I've received since joining WWA in May. There is no author assigned to this article, but I really enjoyed how it showed a greater variety of learning styles than what we typically discuss when training new swim or first aid instructors. Also this week? The president of WWA called me to talk about this video.
Newly-Installed Diving Boards Cause Controversy At Alaska’s Only 50-Meter Pool
This article lacks a detailed explanation of how the community got to this point, but I think it's a great example how aquatic facilities need to thoughtfully consider how all different types of activities will use space in the pool. Many types of users and activities are impacted by short-sighted equipment purchases or installation. (Remember the Bozeman bulkhead issue last month?) These spontaneous decisions might come about when an organization's financial resources are squeezed at the end of the budget year, territory we're now entering for those of you with January - December budgets.
Flemish government invests in forty new public swimming pools
Now THIS is how you lifecycle plan! 6 million Euros will be allocated annually over the next 30 years.
CrossFit Games athlete drowned at Fort Worth competition, medical examiner confirms
No underlying medical conditions or complications have been cited. If you need background on what exactly happened, please check out this newsletter or this very detailed timeline reconstruction by a CrossFit participant who at the event.
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to spend a day on the water with Keith Cormican, founder of Bruce's Legacy, trawling Lake Minnewanka in Banff (Alberta) for the body of Yannick Bastien. Keith volunteers his time to search for the submerged bodies of drowning victims with sonar in memory of his deceased brother, Bruce; gas to haul the boat & equipment, money to buy food and pay campground fees, etc. are entirely based on public donations. He's one of very few people in the world doing this kind of work (his wife travels with him as support crew: one drives the boat, the other monitor's the ROV's display screen) and he can only help one family at a time. One search usually takes multiple weeks, plus overland travel.
Authorities say US man faked kayaking death and fled to Europe
The four weeks wasted by Bruce's Legacy, completing this search, requires restitution. Especially if social media reports are verified and prove that he was planning this for a very long time.
Next week I will be at the annual IAAPA Expo in Orland0. Similar to this video from WWA, I plan to vlog my experience for those who are interested to know if it's a worthwhile professional development opportunity.
All the best.
Katie Crysdale
Lakeview Aquatic Consultants Ltd.