Cooper Onyett: Victorian Education Department, pool manager fined a combined $180k after child, 8, drowned

The Victorian Education Department and a community pool manager will pay a combined $180,000 for health and safety breaches after an eight-year-old died during a school excursion.

Grade 2 student Cooper Onyett drowned on May 21, 2021, at Belfast Aquatics at Port Fairy in Victoria’s southwest while on a trip organised by the Warrnambool-based Merrivale Primary School.

Both the department, which was fined $100,000, and Port Fairy Community Pool Management, which was fined $80,000, had pleaded guilty to breaches of duty.

Handing down her sentence in Warrnambool County Court, Judge Claire Quin said Belfast Aquatics’ status as a charity dependent on volunteers and fundraising contributed to the lower fine.

“The department is not in that position,” Judge Quin told the court.

“This was ... a serious breach relating to the safety of young school-aged children engaging in an activity arranged by the school with obvious inherent risks.”

The school had sent parents permission slips and medical forms before the trip but failed to pass them onto the pool before sending 28 students to the facility.

Cooper’s mother had ticked a box confirming he was a beginner swimmer with little or no experience in shallow water.

The department has altered its policies since the incident, requiring schools to assess a student’s swimming abilities before any water activity.

Belfast has worked with WorkSafe, which brought the initial court action, to improve staffing and safety practices.

Pool management had asked children to raise their hands if they could swim to use an inflatable obstacle course at the deep end, but many were soon identified as weak swimmers and helped to the shallow end.

“The measures that were taken by the group to assess the children’s capabilities - given the unreliability of that information obtained from young children ... likely to be eager to engage in the activity - did not reduce that risk,” Judge Quin told the court.

Cooper was among the children identified as a weak swimmer and was spotted twice more outside the shallow area - jumping into the deep end and on the inflatable, which he was told to get off.

He was spotted floating underwater and retrieved from the water but died after attempts to resuscitate him failed.

Many in the courtroom wiped away tears and Judge Quin’s voice quivered as she read a victim impact statement from Cooper’s mother Skye Meinen.

“I don’t think you can truly ever comprehend what it feels like for your heart to be shattered into a million pieces until it happens,” Ms Meinen wrote.

WorkSafe health and safety executive director Narelle Beer questioned how children could be allowed to use an obstacle course at the deep end of a pool without assessing their swimming abilities.

“Families also place their trust in education providers to care for their children, it’s not enough just to have parents tick a box on a form, schools must use this information for its intended purpose - to help keep children safe,” Dr Beer said.

“These failures have tragically led to every parent’s worst nightmare and our hearts go out to Cooper’s family and loved ones who should never have had to face such a terrible loss.”