Inuvik (Apr 22/05) - A string of accidents at the newly opened Inuvik Family Centre has resulted in some extra safety measures and procedures for the pool.

"It's a new facility and we knew we'd have a few bumps in the beginning," said Mayor Peter Clarkson. "But it's still a good facility and a facility that people want to use."

Family Centre custodian Veronica Rogers scrapes her hand along the gritty new surface applied to floors in the change rooms and foyer, Tuesday, to make them less slippery. A youngster slipped and fell the first week the facility was open.

Since the $9 million extension to the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex was opened April 2, an ambulance was called to pick up a man with a broken leg, one child suffered scrapes and bruises after slipping in the change room, another slipped and fell around the pool and one adult injured his knee while playing squash.

The squash injury was just a fluke, said Clarkson.

He explained that a new, less-slippery floor surface was poured April 17-19 at a cost of $11,000 to curb the slipping problems.

"Every stitch of floor that's not tile will be done," said Veronica Rogers, custodian.

Waterless slide

Staff will also be watching to ensure that no one uses the water slide until a visual check of the water levels has been completed, Clarkson said.

The resident who broke his leg had descended the slide not realizing there was an inadequate amount of water in the basin at the end of the slide. His leg was broken when he reached the bottom and couldn't stop himself from a hard landing in the half-empty basin.

"That was very unfortunate," said Clarkson, noting that it seemed one of the emergency shutoff valves had been tripped, draining the water.

"It doesn't really concern me," said Johnny Kaglik, who swims at the pool three days a week.

These things happen, he said, and the town will make sure they are taken care of.

Although every user asked by the Inuvik Drum was glad to hear new safety measures were in place, not one said they would stop frequenting the facility.

Complaints about the steam room being dangerously hot have also been addressed, said Clarkson.

"The steamer is set on a timer that runs 10 minutes on, 10 minutes off," he explained. "It somehow got tripped and was running all the time, but that has been fixed now."

Work crews were also on site, Tuesday, fixing a leak in the water slide and replacing rusty screws in the hot tub, said Rogers.

"You have things like this pop up. It takes a few months for things to get worked out," she said, noting these issues wouldn't keep her from using the pool. "Definitely not. It's a lot of fun."