A hotel must pay £135,000 in fines and costs after a member of the public drowned in an unsupervised swimming pool.

The incident took place at the Spindles Health Club in the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool on 30 August 2006. Madhav Cherukuri, 25, had borrowed a friend’s membership card and went swimming in the health centre pool.

Another person swimming in the pool noticed that Mr Cherukuri was spending extended periods of time swimming underwater. It is believed that he was testing how long he could swim underwater without taking a breath. The other bather became concerned by his behavior and brought it to the attention of a member of staff who was walking past the pool.

The bather then went to get changed while the member of staff tried to locate a lifeguard to inform him about Mr Cherukuri’s behavior. By the time the lifeguard arrived, he found Mr Cherukuri motionless at the bottom of the pool and pulled him out of the water. Two club members, who were off-duty nurses, began administering CPR but were unable to revive Mr Cherukuri.

Environmental heath officers from Liverpool City Council investigated the incident and found that the hotel had not carried out a sufficient risk assessment, and that staff had not been sufficiently trained to handle emergency situations. The investigation identified that lifeguards had not undertaken in-service training, which gives advice on how to handle emergency situations.

The council also found exposed electrical conductors in a service tunnel adjacent to the pool. The hotel was issued with a Prohibition Notice in September 2006, which required the pool to be closed until an adequate maintenance programme was put in place.

Britannia Adelphi Hotels appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on 5 August and pleaded guilty to breaching s3(1) of the HSWA 1974. It was fined £65,000 and ordered to pay £70,000 towards costs.

In mitigation, the firm said it had no previous convictions and had fully cooperated with the investigation. It has now ensured that all lifeguards have received in-service training, and it also decided to reduce the depth of the pool.

Liverpool City Council cabinet member for the environment and climate change, Councillor Tim Moore, said: “This unfortunate incident has highlighted the matters that leisure-pool operators need to consider when devising operational procedures. Lifeguards and other employees need to be properly trained to recognise and deal with emergency situations.”