Statewide Mutual worked closely with a coastal council and community group to bring their long-awaited swimming complex to life.
Nabiac is a small town located on the NSW Mid-North Coast within the Great Lakes Shire. The Nabiac & District Swimming Pool Committee have been fundraising for 25 long years to raise money for a modern swimming complex.
Their dream has finally been realised with the opening of a 25 metre pool, amenities, canteen, grassed play areas, and a wet play area for the littlies to come. It was built on council land and construction was managed by the committee on behalf of Council.
The pool is unsupervised due to a lack of resources, bringing with it a number of risk management challenges. Being the case, we came to the rescue to help highlight some key risk areas. We worked together with Council, the committee, and Royal Life Saving Australia to come up with a list of weaknesses, such as:
a lack of prohibition and warning signage;
a need for adequate fencing, hand rails and slip-resistant surfaces;
the absence of depth indicators and pool edge delineation; and
appropriate training for council maintenance staff and community volunteers.
After this was digested by all, we worked closely with the committee and Council to provide advice and guidance at the final stages of construction.
With everyone getting excited that the pool was close to being opened, Council and the committee managed the completion of our recommendations through an action plan. One stand-out achievement of the plan was putting in place some great emergency procedures, including installing a dedicated emergency phone that’s accessible at all times.
“Pulling off a project like the Nabiac Pool is a massive undertaking for a community group with no construction experience,” said Mark Spry, Regional Risk Manager for the Mid-North Coast, adding, “It was truly a pleasure working alongside the committee and Council, and was really pleasing to witness the dedication given to completing all recommended risk management actions.”
We’re proud to play a part in helping Council bring a well-earned, long-awaited, and safe facility to the community.