Finding into death of Chanel Peckham
Deceased
Chanel Peckham
Demographics
1y, female
Date of death
2010-04-06
Finding date
2012-09-06
Cause of death
Consistent with drowning
AI-generated summary
Chanel Peckham, age 21 months, drowned in an unbarriered outdoor spa at a rental property in April 2010. The spa was installed without landlord permission or building permit and lacked required safety fencing compliant with Australian Standard 1926. The coroner found the death preventable, emphasizing that adequate barrier fencing would have prevented access. Key clinical and systemic lessons include: inadequate parental supervision of a toddler near water; absence of building inspections by the property manager despite 16 months of illegal modification; gaps in tenant education about pool safety regulations; and lack of mandatory inspection regimes for domestic pools. The coroner highlighted failures in the residential tenancy system to communicate safety obligations and recommended amendments to tenancy publications, property manager education, and mandatory pool safety inspection programs.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Contributing factors
- Lack of supervision of toddler in proximity to water
- Absence of compliant safety barrier fencing around spa pool
- Spa installed without landlord permission or building permit
- No building inspections by property manager during 16-month period spa was present
- Tenants unaware of legal requirements for pool barrier fencing
- Absence of pool safety information in residential tenancy publications
Coroner's recommendations
- Continued programs for toddler water safety education
- Placing into legislation a requirement to display at the poolside a sign displaying current cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) procedures
- Establishment of a register of pools and spas
- Mandatory inspection of all pool and spa safety barriers every four years by licensed pool safety inspectors
- Consumer Affairs Victoria to amend tenancy forms and publications to include regulatory information about pool barrier fencing
- Real Estate Institute of Victoria to communicate to members the importance of property inspections for tenant health and wellbeing, not simply asset management
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