Safety audits to be conducted at all Ottawa beaches in August

How safe are Ottawa's beaches? Beaches in Ottawa will be undergoing safety audits after a young boy drowned earlier this year. CTV's Natalie van Rooy reports.

All City of Ottawa beaches will undergo safety audits this summer to ensure they are meeting safety standards for swimmers.

The city has commissioned the Lifesaving Society to undertake a safety audit at Britannia, Mooney's Bay, Westboro and Petrie Island beaches this summer, with a report to be presented to councillors in the fall.

The audit comes after the Office of the Chief Coroner recommended a safety audit at all beaches following the death of a nine-year-old boy at Britannia Beach in June. The Coroner's Office also issued a series of recommendations last year after investigating three drownings at the west end beach between 2020 and 2023.

"The audit is scheduled to take place this August before the closure of beaches, with a report back to the City anticipated in the fall," Dan Chenier, general manager of Recreation, Cultural and Facility Services, said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa.

"The safety and well-being of our residents is a priority. We take the recommendations of the Office of the Chief Coroner seriously and have considered and responded to each of her recommendations."

The Lifesaving Society recommends all aquatic facilities undergo a comprehensive aquatic safety audit at least once every five years.  The agency notes aquatic safety audits identify potential hazards that could lead to accidents or injuries.

Sean Duffy, area chair for The Lifesaving Society, tells Newstalk 580 CFRA's The Morning Rush, the Lifesaving Society offers inspection and audit services.

"A comprehensive safety audit looks at the operations, for example a swimming pool or a waterfront, uses a particular checklist to inspect the facility, to identify where the facilities are operating in an appropriate range of safe practice, meeting or exceeding provincial standards, and also makes recommendations on how safety can be improved," Duffy said Thursday morning.

"This is a great way for operators to ensure that their operations are safe, and to make adjustments to improve safety for themselves and for members of the public."

Duffy says the Lifesaving Society uses the "Ontario Waterfront Safety Standards" as a guide for the audit.

The Lifesaving Society has the "Ontario Waterfront Safety Standards."

"These include things like how to ensure a waterfront is safe. That would be a checklist of emergency equipment, a review of emergency and operating procedures, review of training plans," Duffy said. "So, it's sort of a whole package of different things that operators are doing to ensure they're setting up their lifeguards for success, that they're ensuring their environment – so that's a pool, or a beach or a water park - are organized in a way that meets the provincial and national standards."

The Lifesaving Society will present a report to the city, along with any potential recommendations to improve safety at the public beaches.

On June 3, a child was found unresponsive in the Ottawa River at Britannia Beach. The child later died in hospital.

Lifeguards were not on duty at the time of the drowning. The city has lifeguards on duty at Ottawa beaches from June 15 until Aug. 24.

Last year, Dr. Louise McNaughton-Filion, the regional supervising coroner for eastern Ontario, released a report into three deaths at Britannia Beach between July 5, 2020 and July 14, 2023.

"All decedents were new arrivals to Canada and known to be novice swimmers," McNaughton-Filion wrote. "They were wading slightly outside of the supervised area, and two of the three drowning events occurred less than a half hour after lifeguards were officially on duty at the beach (the third was within an hour of lifeguards being off duty)."

The report says all three were standing or wading "close to a drop-off area," where the water depth suddenly dropped from two feet to 10 feet.

McNaughton-Filion made five recommendations to the City of Ottawa last year, including conducting a lifesaving audit at the start of every season at the beaches, installing "drop off zone markers at the point in the water where the drop off occurs (at water level)," and "The City of Ottawa should identify, on an annual basis, any potential drop hazards in water close to city beaches and consider filing them to reduce risk."

Ottawa hires engineering firm to assess Britannia Beach swimming area

Chenier says the City of Ottawa has engaged an engineering firm to "undertake a review and to assess any potential modifications that could address the continuous changes in water depths" at Britannia Beach.

However, Chenier warns filling or dredging the riverbed would require "engineering solutions and closure of the beach for a full or partial season to complete the work."

"The bottom of the Ottawa River changes throughout the season due to spring melting conditions, currents, wind, and rainfall. There are multiple naturally occurring sandbars in proximity to Britannia Beach," Chenier said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa and Newstalk 580 CFRA.

"To ensure the safety of residents, conditions are reviewed regularly throughout the season and the buoy lines are adjusted to manage changes in the bottom conditions. Residents are encouraged to only swim inside the designated area for their own safety and are regularly reminded through public announcements and interventions by onsite City staff."

Britannia Beach was closed in the summer of 2020 to carry out work on the riverbed in the swimming area, according to Chenier.