Swimming Pool Injury Compensation Claims

The personal injury team here at McCarthy + Co Solicitors LLP has extensive experience in bringing successful public liability claims, including cases involving injuries sustained at leisure facilities such as swimming pools, saunas, and public baths. As the occupier of the premises, a pool operator owes a duty under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1995 to take reasonable care for the safety of those using it. Situations that can give rise to a claim include:

• a slip, trip, or fall on a wet or poorly maintained poolside, or where drainage was inadequate;
• inadequate supervision, such as too few lifeguards, or lifeguards who were poorly trained or inattentive;
• defective equipment, such as broken ladders or steps, or a faulty diving board or slide;
• poor water quality or hygiene leading to infection or illness;
• inadequate signage, such as a missing depth marking or no-diving warning;
• a chemical injury caused by the improper handling or storage of pool chemicals, or by over-chlorination; and
• overcrowding that the operator failed to control.

If you have been injured while swimming in a public pool and would like to know if you have the basis to bring a claim, arrange a time to speak with a solicitor here by completing our confidential online form.

The standard pool operators must meet

Swimming pool operators are held to high safety standards. Alongside the occupiers’ liability duty to take reasonable care for visitors, an operator that employs staff must comply with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and its regulations, which require risk assessments, a safety statement, and safe systems of work. Water Safety Ireland also publishes detailed guidelines on swimming pool safety, covering matters such as lifeguard provision, supervision, depth markings, and pool operating procedures. While these guidelines are not, in themselves, legislation, they set out what competent operators are expected to do, and a failure to follow them can be strong evidence that reasonable care was not taken. The operator’s records, including lifeguard rosters, training records, water-testing logs, and maintenance records, are often key to a claim.

Claiming on behalf of a child

Many swimming pool accidents involve children. A child cannot bring a claim in their own name, so a parent or guardian brings it on the child’s behalf, as their ‘next friend’. Any settlement must be approved by a judge, in a process known as an infant ruling, and the compensation is normally held by the Courts Service until the child turns eighteen. The time limit differs for children too: the two-year period generally does not begin until the child’s eighteenth birthday, though it is far better to bring the claim earlier, while evidence such as lifeguard rosters, CCTV, and maintenance records still exists.