Council satisfied with park's safety measures

Rotorua Lakes Council is satisfied with the current safety measures in place at Kuirau Park following the death of a man in a hot pool. Photo/Stephen Parker

Rotorua's deputy mayor says the council is satisfied with the current safety measures in Kuirau Park, following the discovery of a body in a hot pool.

Police believe the body found on Tuesday was that of a local man.

A post-mortem examination was carried out yesterday in Auckland. In a statement, police said they could not confirm the man's identity until today at the earliest. They are treating it as an "unexplained death", which will be referred to a coroner.

Emergency service crews took more than three hours to recover the body after the alarm was raised by a tourist.

Deputy mayor Dave Donaldson said there was "extensive" signage in place warning the public of the dangers of the geothermal pools. This included signs in the car park areas advising visitors to walk on the safety tracks.

"All of the hot pools are fenced off with balustrade fencing and are regularly checked," Mr Donaldson said.

"Twice weekly there is a thermal pool check and every two weeks staff carry out a structural check on all fences."

Any issues were fixed immediately or if they could not be repaired straight away were cordoned off with high visibility tape and signs, he said.

During events in the park the areas are monitored twice a day.

"Regarding further evaluations of those standards, council are co-operating with the police and coroner's enquiry and serious consideration will be given to any recommendations that may emanate from that process."

Mr Donaldson said the current safety protocols at the park were implemented following the coroner's inquest into the death of Toromon Falaile Toromon in 2010.

The 10-year-old fell into a hot pool on Boxing Day. According to the coroner's report he had climbed on to the rockery around a hot pool and slipped.

During the 2013 inquest coroner Dr Wallace Bain said he was satisfied with the work the council had done at Kuirau Park since the child's death.

Dr Bain referred to the death of the child as an unfortunate incident and said there was nothing more the council could do.