AN INQUEST jury's call last month for tougher safety standards at public swimming pools after the death of a seven-year-old last summer has been snubbed by the Urban Services Department (USD). The inquest into Yeung Jun-ming's drowning in a crowded Kowloon Park outdoor pool recommended the creation of a panel to work out regulations for parks, pools and other USD facilities. But the department has rejected the call for new rules. A spokeswoman said: ''There was no need to follow the jury's recommendation,'' and that the USD ''should not react to one incident''. ''After receiving the one-page report on the [inquest's] recommendations we did an internal review. We discussed existing practice on the management of pools . . . we did not set up a panel,'' she said. The council conducted a detailed review of the management of pools in 1985, which concluded the USD's safety standards were adequate. The USD has since adopted a standard stipulating a temporary and a permanent lifeguard are responsible for up to 100 and 150 swimmers respectively. This compares with the British ratio of one to 100, she said, adding the US, Australia and Japan tended to adopt a swim-at-your-own-risk policy. The director of the Hongkong Lifeguard Club, Mr Kwok Hon-ming, said it would be ideal to limit the ratio of lifeguards to swimmers at one to 30. Referring to Jun-ming's death, the spokeswoman said: ''It should not be a case for alarm. It was not due to inadequate precautions. That incident is unfortunate.'' She also stressed the coroner had returned a verdict of accidental death for Jun-ming, who was a non-swimmer. But a part-time lifeguard at the Kowloon Park pool, Mr Wong Man-mo, a student, told the jury that he was unaware of Jun-ming's predicament for a long time because the pool was crowded and he had not heard a cry for help. Last week there were eight lifeguards keeping watch on an average of 200 people at Kowloon Park, according to the spokeswoman. The jury also recommended the Urban Council should use the best means it can to protect swimmers, especially those young and helpless. The spokesman suggested parents were also responsible for safeguarding their children.
