App out to reduce drownings
A former Timaru lifeguard hopes the town’s Caroline Bay pool complex will get behind her new app designed to stop near-miss drownings.
Gretchen McAleer designed the idea for her ‘‘Watch Me’’ smartphone app as a project for her final year at Massey University.
The app merges teaching parents about the risks of leaving children unattended in a swimming pool with the capability for parents and children to create water safety posters for their local pools.
Being a lifeguard for over six years was what gave Timaru-born McAleer the drive to design the app.
With the ever increasing use of technology, namely smartphones, she said the app would be an innovative way to teach parents and children alike about water safety.
‘‘It would be great if C-Bay get behind it,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s a way a parent and a child can create something together.’’
With already growing publicity, McAleer was hoping to get backing from organisations, namely the New Zealand Recreation Association (NZRA), in order to have the app created.
They had already showed some interest, using it for a summer Poolsafe poster campaign which started on Wednesday.
‘‘For the app to take off it would probably need some funding.’’
Child drownings were recently blamed on parents being distracted by mobile phones.
Parents and caregivers were being warned as figures showed 87 percent of child drownings or near-drownings were the result of inadequate child supervision.
The figures came from NZRA, which said hand-held devices were primarily to blame.
According to Water Safety NZ, most drownings involving children under 5 happened in backyard pools.
New Zealand remains toward the top end of the preventable drowning toll in the developed world across all age groups.
So far this year, no under-5s had drowned but in November 2017, a one year-old had drowned in a pond in Winchmore, near Ashburton.
Also in November, a five yearold fell off a wharf and into the sea at a North Auckland beach. He was unable to revived
McAleer’s ‘‘Watch Me’’ posters would be at 140 public pools across the country.
She had a message for parents thinking about taking their kids to the pool during the remainder of summer. ‘‘Accidents happen in seconds. ‘‘All you need to do is be aware of your children in the pool.’’
Ammonia leak
A man aged in his 30s was taken to Timaru Hospital after an ammonia leak at the Alliance Group’s Smithfield freezing works in Oceanview, Timaru, yesterday. Smithfield plant manager Nigel Cuthill said the leak occurred in an access tunnel above the plant at about 8.30am. The area was evacuated. ‘‘An employee was taken to Timaru Hospital by ambulance as a precaution for unrelated symptoms.’’ Fire crews assisted St John and site engineers. Cuthill said engineers isolated the leak and repairs were completed. ‘‘Parts of our processing operations were temporarily suspended, but are now up and running,’’ he said.
Flood inquiry
Environment Canterbury is investigating why low-lying parts of Rangitata were flooded in July 2017, it confirmed. ECan Timaru operations manager Judith Earl-Goulet on Monday said staff were first made aware of flooding issues at Rangitata business the Tin Shed when owner Lesley Limbe approached them shortly after the July 2017 flood event. ‘‘Lesley indicated to our staff that low-lying parts of the property had been flooded in the past, but not to the same extent,’’ Earl-Goulet said. ‘‘The July 2017 rain was a significant event which followed a very wet period, and the ground was already saturated,’’ Earl-Goulet said. ‘‘Initial findings from a study that is currently underway appear to indicate that flooding did not originate from the river itself, but from local runoff from the upstream flood plain. ‘‘Work to fully understand and establish the causes of this flooding is needed before mitigating actions can be explored. This work is in the early stages and it is intended that the findings will be presented to the Opihi-Temuka-Orari-Pareora (OTOP) Water Zone Committee for its consideration.’’
Policy queried
Fonterra’s policy of delaying payments to trade suppliers is under the gun. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash has asked officials to watch an Australian government drive to speed up the payment of invoices. It may lead to a Cabinet paper that may replicate the Australian direction, he indicated. In 2016, Fonterra told about 3600 trade suppliers they would have to wait until 61 days after the end of the month in which they had sent invoices to be paid. Fonterra pointing out farmer-shareholders faced tough times as a result of falling global dairy prices. those prices have since improved. Spokeswoman Louise Kattera confirmed Fonterra was not looking to review its standard payment terms. It had been flexible negotiating payment terms with smaller suppliers, she said.
Police notebook
Incidents reported to police include:
An 18-year-old Timaru man was arrested on Hilton Highway, Washdyke, having failed to appear in court.
Three Temuka youths were arrested following an incident in which Ophi College was damaged early on Monday morning. They were to be referred to Youth Aid.