Source: Radio New Zealand
Mt Albert Aquatic Centre. Supplied / Community Leisure Management
Worksafe will revist an Auckland aquatic centre after a boy smashed his front teeth while on a hydroslide – the second recent injury involving the same slide.
A man was injured at the Mt Albert Aquatic Centre in late December, losing his finger when a ring caught on a bolt inside the slide, the NZ Herald reported.
Worksafe was notified following the incident.
Less than a week later, the 12-year-old boy was injured.
According to the NZ Herald, the boy was thrown around inside the slide, knocking his front two teeth on its inside joiners on 2 January.
The boy’s mother told the media outlet an emergency dental appointment the next day showed he had hit a nerve on the tooth and it “could be problematic the rest of his life”.
She said the tooth would now be “covered under ACC for life”.
WorkSafe said improvements had been made when its inspector visited the centre two days after the man was injured. But a spokesperson said an inspector would go back to the aquatic centre this month following the boy’s injury.
Auckland Council said the slide had been inspected twice within the last six months.
Head of service partner delivery, Garth Dawson, said the council would continue to work with operator Community Leisure Management and the slide manufacturer to ensure it was safe.
Community Leisure Management’s director Kirsty Knowles said it was improving signs at the hydroslide.
The NZ Herald reported the man’s finger was able to be reattached by a surgeon.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand