Bridgetown pool closes on hottest day of February and brings concerns of shortages of qualified staff

Bridgetown swimming pool’s closure on Saturday, during the hottest day of the month, revealed a deeper issue within the region with staffing shortages and lack of resources, including housing for potential staff members. In a post on social media last week, the Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes announced the Bridgetown swimming pool was to be closed on Saturday, a day where the maximum temperature reached 41.3 degrees, and faced early closures on February 10 and February 14. The closest pools in the surrounding area, for those seeking alternatives included Manjimup AquaCentre, Boyup Brook Swimming Pool and the natural Greenbushes Pool. Bridgetown-Greenbushes Shire CEO Nicole Gibbs stated the closure on Saturday was due to one of the pool operating managers being unwell in the hospital and having no staff who could cover their shift. “The unfortunate truth is the guy that managed the pool for that day was in hospital,” she said. “We only had one backup person and they couldn’t work seven days in a week.” She said the requirements for the pool to be open included having staff with a dual qualification from Royal Life Saving and an internal pool manager course, with limited people with both qualifications being in town. “The person needs to have a dual qualification with Royal Life Saving and the pool operator manager’s course, which is quite an intensive course, and we only have two people in town with that qualification.” “So, legally we can’t open the pool if we don’t have someone available.” Ms Gibbs said nearby shires were asked to help cover shifts to ensure the pool was running. “Megan (community services manager Megan Richards) has done everything she can, she’s asked Donnybrook and Manjimup if we can borrow people, and we have been using people from there and our people have been doing really long hours to try and cover the gap,” she said. “We had lovely people, from teachers in the schools and people in the community, offer to do it for free, but unfortunately, we’re not allowed to do that unless they have the dual qualification.” Ms Gibbs stated the shire office was looking into ways to prevent the closure from happening again and ways they could make sure community complaints were heard and resolved. “We really thought we were going to cover every shift, including Saturday, and we had complaints from the community, which was expected and we were devastated we weren’t able to cover it,” she said. “What we’ve done to improve conditions for next year was increase our terms and conditions, salary for staff, and we’re also looking at housing options and investing in regional housing for staff. “We’ve got three people willing to take the pool operator course next season and we have a string of strategies that we couldn’t put in place in time this year.” The broader issue of limited housing was a major factor in being able to bring in staff. “It’s an issue escalating throughout the State, as last year was tight as well, this year was tighter,” Ms Gibbs said. “If you want to look at the more strategic issue, it’s housing across regional WA and it’s really a housing shortage, and if we had more houses in Bridgetown, we could attract more people with the qualifications, but it’s difficult. “There was a three by one house for $1000 a week in Bridgetown and it went quickly, and there’s a severe housing shortage across regional WA.”