Furious with local swimming pool

[Ieatcake]

Very large pool, power cut in the middle of children's lessons. The rest of the building had emergency lights that kicked in a second later apart from the pool. Dozens of parents rushing from the mezzanine level and using their phones to check on the children. Staff took several minutes to locate a few dim torches and didn't have a. Clear evaction plan.

Aibu to think that just isn't acceptable? The gym, reception, studio changing rooms all had emergency lights but not the pool and it was pitch black. Will they have broken the law? A mad adrenaline rush for everyone!

Sounds a bit hysterical. How old were the children?

I think thats pretty bad actually

Chill out. The pool was surrounded by swim instructors/ life guards, adults who could swim. Why would all the kids in the pool suddenly drown?
Snowflake reaction from hysterical stupid parents.
Calmly telling the kids to swim to the side & get out was all that was needed. What if they ever fall in water in the dark?? What then? Mummy will be there with her phone torch to drag them out.
Good practice for RL. Man up.

Yawn. Are people still using the unoriginal 'snowflake' term?

The pool should definitely have emergency lighting.

Man up? Lots of kids are scared of the dark. I'm scared of the dark. I'm scared of not being able to see my children in a crowd too. Not unreasonable fears.

furious?
Okay, put in a suggestion. That's reasonable. YABU on furious, though.

Sounds extremely poor to me. There could be non-swimmers in the pool at any time and they could easily panic and get disorientated in the dark. Swimming lessons probably safer than a general recreational swimming session, but it must have been very frightening for you.

No idea what the law is, though

The pool was surrounded by swim instructors/ life guards, adults who could swim

Not much use if they're trying to see a struggling child in the pitch black

So in the rush a child hits their head and no-one notices...

Not hysterical at all.

It wouldn't be easy to maintain emergency lights in a pool area. What with high ceilings, bad access, humidity and water. The lights went out, best just to "stay calm and carry on".

What if they ever fall in water in the dark?? What then?

Er - quite obviously, they might drown. Which is kind of the point of why the pool ought to have emergency lighting. Swimming in the pitch dark is not generally recommended for anyone, never mind weak swimmers.

Notbsure why youre gettibg a hard time op! I'm a strong swimmer and not the least bit scared of the dark but would prob be pretty disorientated if it all went dark so can imagine a bit chaotic for the kids too! Hopefully something the pool will look at to make sure it doesnt happen again though either with emergancy lighting or having back up torches!

Surely dozens of parents rushing to the poolside would have only added to the chaos? What age are the children?

Would have been far easier for the teacher to ensure they all got out the pool without the parents removing their own kids.

Gobsmacked by the "this is no big deal" responses. It doesn't matter how many lifeguards there are, if it's a swimming lesson (hint, people, this probably means some of the kids in the pool cannot actually swim and are liable to panic and go under), the lifeguards will not be able to see the kids in the dark. (It's actually pretty hard to spot someone drowning even in broad daylight and bright sunshine - they don't go under with lots of splashing like in the movies, they just quietly sink without fuss).

Yes the pool should have emergency lighting in that area, not just in the rest of the building.

I think that's pretty bad. If it was really 'pitch black' then the risks are akin to leaving non swimmers in the pool unsupervised.

I can imagine being there with my toddler perhaps in a baby pool leading to a bigger one, watching them splash about but not in arms length. It would be easy to lose them in the darkness and confusion.
Don't know about laws though.

YANBU.

Really surprised by some of these responses. A lifeguard isn’t going to be any use at all in the pitch black and if all the kids tried to swim to the side at once in a panic it could be really dangerous, pushing each other etc.

Really inadequate OP, I would complain and ensure they have an action plan in place if it ever happens again.

Arevyou sure there was no lighting or did the emergency lighting fail? There should be an evacuation plan but that applies to parents as well as swimmers and staff. It would not include parents retrieving their children but assembling separately outside.

Snowflake reaction from hysterical stupid parents

How can anyone be stupid enough to not realise the possible dangers?

More than once I've taken a very confident (but total non-swimming) toddler swimming. With ds1 particularly he would make a beeline for the deep side of the pool if he thought I wasn't looking. He played independently in the two foot deep baby pool, sometimes quite a few feet away from me and equal distance to the deep side...which is fine as I obviously watched like a hawk.

I would never have thought about a complete black out though. The thought of that happening when you have a young child in the pool and probably a load of panicking screaming other kids around actually makes me feel sick. There could be a real risk of a horrible accident for a younger one.

Yanbu op. I would be furious too.

You’ve only getting a hard time because you’ve posted on AIBU where everyone comes to put the boot in it seems.
In RL children swimming in pitch black suddenly would be very frightening for them. Nobody could see if someone was struggling or went under in a panic. Finding the side to get out safely or life guards being able to help is obviously difficult in the absence of any light. So no, YANBU or being a ‘snowflake’ (yawn)

No, that just isn't safe. It's one of those 'So obvious it doesn't need to be explicitly stated' things - ie there shouldn't need to be a specific rule about it.

My kids would have been terrified and panicked. My 7 yo can swim but despite lessons, not reliably. In those circumstances I would have been terrified that she might actually drown.

Swimming 'lessons' would suggest these were non swimmers in some cases.

Also risk of drowning is higher because it's bought on by panic (which kids will do plunged into darkness suddenly) and also grabbing people to keep yourself safe (again very likely).

I would be emailing centre management company as a first port of call and asking them what are immediate plans and timescale for emergency lighting.

Definitely raise it as a concern. Sometimes thing are not put in place simply because they are not thought of.