Another child has died in a portable pool and the coroner's court has renewed calls for these pools to be banned.
However, the government ministry in charge says change is unlikely.
Ten-month-old Majura Rapi-Davis died on Boxing Day 2022 in a portable inflatable pool at his Pukekohe home. The pool was only full to approximately 320 millimetres, around the height of a standard school ruler.
Associate Coroner James Buckle found the soft-sided pool would collapse inwards and downwards if a small amount of pressure was put on it, meaning Majura could tip himself in.
"Because the top of the pool collapsed in when weight was put on it but did not collapse out, Baby Majura was not able to climb out without help," he said.
In March 2023, the death of a 20-month-old in a temporary pool in Napier resulted in a call from Water Safety NZ for a ban on the pools.
This followed a coroner's investigation into the drownings of eight children aged under 6 during the summer of 2021-2022 when Coroner Michael Robb also recommended a ban.
Coroner Buckle said the evidence pointed to Majura's parents being diligent in their supervision of the pool when being used and that they acted to try and restrict his access to it at other times. But with a busy household and several other children around, the sliding door which gave access to the pool was at one time left open.
"The death of Baby Majura was a tragic loss and I extend my heartfelt condolences to his whānau," Coroner Buckle said.
He noted that this was not the first death of a child in these circumstances and endorsed Coroner Robbs recommendation that temporary pools of less than 1.2 metres in height be discontinued from sale.
"The cost of these pools has become the lives of children," Coroner Buckle said.
However, a ban did not look likely to happen.
"The tenor of [Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's] response to both my and Coroner Robb's recommendations were that they are very unlikely to be followed in the short to medium term, if ever," Coroner Buckle said.
MBIE argued that discontinuing the sale of temporary pools under 1.2 metres in height would require significant policy work and would not be as simple a solution as it sounded.
Because he was not confident in government action to ban the pools, Coroner Buckle also recommended a law change to the promotion, advertising, and packaging of temporary pools.
"Any and all promotional, advertising and/or packaging images, whether static or otherwise, that show swimming pools must show the pool in a context that is clearly and unequivocally compliant with the relevant legislation," he recommended.
He also said it should be clear that the pool itself did not come with the barriers to make it safe.
Water Safety New Zealand said two children under the age of 5 have drowned in portable pools already in the first two months of this year, a cause of death which did not exist a decade ago.
Water Safety's Gavin Walker said the pools were an inexpensive choice but were often left unfenced and filled with water.
"Buyers typically do not budget for, or anticipate the real need for, appropriate fencing, leaving children at serious risk of drowning," he said.
Walker said there was simply too much risk presented by temporary pools.
"Any unfenced pool is a tragedy waiting to happen. A split-second distraction can have devastating implications for our youngest and most vulnerable."
Complete recommendations from the coroner:
- That portable pools between the heights of 400 millimetres and 1.2 metres be discontinued from sale in order to prevent avoidable deaths of young children;
- That a law change should be considered to require that any and all promotional, advertising and/or packaging images, whether static or otherwise, that show swimming pools must show the pool in a context that is clearly and unequivocally compliant with the relevant legislation;
- That any and all notices attached to packaging etc regarding barrier rules for swimming pools should clearly state that the relevant barriers are not included with the pools;
- That MBIE, or some other government department or organisation, conduct or commission research into the number of portable pools sold/used in New Zealand, the (mis)use of portable pools, the impact of that (mis)use on the incidence of drowning in New Zealand, and whether the current approach to pool safety needs to be modified to also be effective for portable pools;
- That MBIE, or some other government department or organisation, conduct or commission research into whether design improvements can be made to portable swimming pools to make them safer;
- That if the research provides designs that improve pool safety then the improved designs should be incorporated into the relevant design standards.
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