Protect Your Pool Over the Cold Winter Season
A WEST END star has told how she was almost blinded after a “chemical bomb” exploded in her face as she cleaned her swimming pool.
Anita Louise Combe, who has played lead roles in shows including Chicago and the world premieres of Sunset Boulevard and Saturday Night Fever, thought she would never perform again after she was hit by a potentially lethal jet of caustic chemicals.
The 43-year-old mother endured burns to her face and body and damaged the retina in her eyes after she was allegedly misinformed by swimming pool technicians.
Miss Combe claimed she was told to mix two types of chlorine with warm water before spreading it across the pool at her new home in Willesden. But when she followed the instructions later that night after her nine-year-old daughter Georgia had been swimming, the liquid started to fizz and exploded in her face. Witnesses said the explosion on July 19 was audible down the street and told of a 10-metre-high plume of white smoke.
Miss Combe, who is originally from Australia, said: “It started fizzing beyond control and exploded like a bomb in my face. I picked up the hose and started hosing myself right down but I couldn’t open my eyes. I got in the outside shower and tried to stay under it. I was hyperventilating beyond belief but I knew I had to hold the shower over myself.”
Miss Combe was taken to St Mary’s Hospital before being transferred to Western Eye Hospital in Marylebone. She was then referred to Chelsea and Westminster where she was released as an outpatient the next day. She said she was told by nurses that she was lucky to be alive. She added: “They said that because I held the water on me, the burns were only superficial. I was still struggling to open my eyes at all and my face was so red and around my eyes they were black, but as the days have progressed my skin has started to peel off.
“Now my skin’s nearly better and I can see – I’m so lucky.”
Miss Combe vowed to take legal action against the pool company which she said could not be named. “Had I known there was even a chance of danger I would not have done it. It makes me so angry that the pool technicians told me to mix the two chemicals together,” she said.
“The systematic failure was that there was no leaflet given to inform me of the dangers. I feel incredibly responsible for pursuing this to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Her brother Chris, 42, who was visiting from Australia, heard the explosion from the other side of the house.
He said: “I ran to the window and saw a 10-metre cylinder of smoke. It was like a huge white pole it was so thick. I ran outside and saw Anita bending over with her hands on her face which was completely red.”
Chris Hayes, managing director of the Swimming Pool and Allied Trades Association, said: “SPATA will always expect an approved pool company to advise their clients to read and follow all instructions on the chemical manufacturers’ containers very carefully and to adhere to the instructions rigidly. Chemicals should never be mixed, this is especially important when dealing with chlorine.”
Related posts
