THE popular whirlpool at Fremantle Leisure Centre is back up and running following an $18,000 retile to prevent injuries to feet.

Tiles laid in a recent $4.5m revamp were so rough they cut people’s feet, resulting in a 95 per cent increase in injuries and a deluge of complaints.

“My son’s cuts are so substantial that they are preventing him from swimming today,” one parent complained on the leisure centre’s website.

Manager John East said it took six months to identify the cause of the injuries after the first complaints rolled in last October holidays.

“At first we weren’t exactly sure what was causing these minor injuries, however when we were confident that it was the tiles in the whirlpool area, management decided to turn off the pumps that create the current,” he said.

“The actual whirlpool area itself was never closed.”

Mayor Brad Pettitt says the slasher tiles met Australian standards but were too effective in preventing slipping.

“It really wasn’t a satisfactory outcome and when you spend a lot of money fixing up the pool to comply with Australian standards and it doesn’t work it’s pretty frustrating,” he said.

“It is a great facility and apologies that we had to go through those steps but it is one of those unfortunate things where the standards haven’t worked and this is one of those rare cases.”

by SARAH SURMAN