SWAN Active’s supervision standards are under the spotlight after a long-time pool user warned of parental inattentiveness at the City of Swan’s October council meeting.

Swan Active patron Dymphna Knight told councillors she had been a regular at the Swan Active Midland pool since its original opening and praised recent upgrades before raising strong concerns about parents who, she said, were distracted by mobile phones and social media scrolling during children’s swimming lessons.

“I’ve spoken to so many people in the pool and the swimming teachers and they are very concerned,” she said.

“Parents come in and they can’t sit down quick enough with their mobile phones, tablets, books or even laptops and they don’t watch their children and to see children achieve things in the pool.

“(The children) in the class look up to their parents and get no response because their parents are not looking and it is so upsetting.”

Ms Knight said she is a former state-level swimmer and swim teacher and said a near-drowning had occurred when a mother failed to notice her child struggling in the water without flotation aids.

“(Another) mother had to barge through two others that were talking, and he was coming up and going, ‘help’,” she said.

“I’m going to make a request and I don’t expect it to be answered tonight, but I would like every one of the councillors to seriously consider… reducing all social media from within the pool hall region only.

“The lifeguards have so much on their hands already.

“They are not unpaid childcare workers.”

She urged the city to restrict social-media use in the pool hall for safety reasons and to protect staff from blame should an accident occur.

“If anything was to happen, you’re going to be hung out to dry because the parents will blame you,” she said.

Ms Knight also commended café staff for their hospitality and raised a separate complaint about cleaning standards, saying she had recently encountered “stacks of black mould” in one of the showers, though it had since been addressed after staff followed up.

City of Swan Mayor Tanya Richardson said the city had comprehensive supervision measures in place such as requiring active supervision of children under 10 years of age.

Swan Active team members are expected to actively engage with families to reinforce these expectations and address lapses in supervision when observed.