Worksafe visits Gore wastewater pond after child dies

Wednesday, 30 January 2019

Worksafe staff have visited the Gore District Council's wastewater treatment plant, where a three-year-old boy died on Tuesday night.

Worksafe, police and council staff were seen entering the scene on Wednesday afternoon.

A spokesperson said WorkSafe had been notified of the incident and was making inquiries, but at this time an investigation has not been opened.

Gore district mayor Tracy Hicks visited the family of the dead boy on Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier, he said getting the news of the death was 'an absolute shock'.

'I can't imagine the pain the parents go through when this sort of tragedy happens and certainly all our sympathy goes out to the family - the mother particularly, and also the community around the area that helped look for the child last night.'

The council has now ordered an urgent review of the security and fencing at the ponds.

The ponds are located on Grasslands Road, at the southern end of the town, and are surrounded by farmland.

The closest houses are about 400m away on Salford Street, which borders the southern end of the Gore A&P Showgrounds. Residents on the street did not want to discuss the death on Wednesday morning.

Gore District Council chief executive Steve Parry said the news had been a 'wake-up call' for the council. 

'It's a traditional wastewater plant in that it's just outside the confines of the urban environment. It's locked, there's a gate in terms of where the road access is, that's locked and is routinely locked at all times, and then it's surrounded by a stock fence in terms of where the houses would be located.

'That's the kind of configuration you'd find in many other oxidation ponds around the country, so it's really been a wake up call in terms of how this accident has happened.'

Gore district mayor Tracy Hicks said a review of fencing and security at the ponds was underway, but it had been in the same configuration for at least the last 40 years that he was aware of.

Police in the South Island town of Gore were alerted the child had gone missing at about 9.30pm, after family, friends and neighbours had started a search themselves.

Police and LandSAR commenced a land search in the area and found the child unresponsive at about 11.15pm in a pond. Despite the best efforts of the search team the child was unable to be resuscitated.

Police continue to make inquiries into the death on behalf of the coroner and are not in a position to make any further comment on the circumstances of the death