Industry news
Lifeguard convicted after man drowns in pool
Posted Wed, 28 Oct 2009
A lifeguard has been convicted of failing to take reasonable care of a man who drowned at a university swimming pool.
Alex Cotterill, 28, was found to have failed to take reasonable care for the health and safety of pool users by a Wolverhampton Crown Court jury on 27 October 2009.
Cotterill, from Willenhall, West Midlands, was working at Wolverhampton's Walsall campus and did not see father-of-three Adrian Miles at the bottom of the pool.
Mr Miles, 48, got into difficulties while swimming at the pool to aid his recovery from a rugby injury in 2006.
Cotterill denied failing to supervise the pool with reasonable care, but the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) prosecution was successful. He was fined £200. However, the jury did not reach a verdict on a second lifeguard charged with the same offence.
HSE Inspector Kanwal Kanda said: "It is completely unacceptable for those with a responsibility for the safety of others to neglect their duty.
"While the lifeguard did not cause Mr Miles to get into difficulty, his neglect of duty was clearly a major factor in leaving him and potentially others using the pool unnecessarily exposed to risk."
Copyright © Press Association 2009
Health and Safety Executive