Lakes Leisure will not be prosecuted by the Department of Labour as a result of a Queenstown woman's complaint she suffered concussion and injured her shoulder after using the high-speed hydro-slide at Alpine Aqualand on May 17.
Department external communications adviser Eric Janse van Rensburg, of Wellington, said in a statement yesterday a report of the investigation into the complaint had been received.
"Lakes Leisure Ltd have considered the recommendations in the report and have decided that any necessary remedial work to the slide will be carried out before the hydro-slide is reopened, so that users of the slide can safely participate in the activity."
Mr van Rensburg said the department did not intend to take any further action.
Aquatics manager Alex Calwell said yesterday Lakes Leisure was happy it had satisfied the terms of the department's inquiry. Queenstown Aquatic Centre project manager Ken Gousmett said an update on the status of the slide would be released by the council next week.
The popular water chute feature has been voluntarily closed by Lakes Leisure since mid-June after the woman's complaint.
The council commissioned its own report and an independent review of the slide from Brisbane-based consultancy Leisure Engineering.
The announcement would give "information, not a conclusion" from the reviews, Mr Gousmett said.
When asked what recommendations there were from the reviews and how upgrades to the slide would be funded if required, Mr Gousmett said the as yet undrafted announcement would provide an update and declined to comment further.
He could not name a date when the attraction would reopen.
The slide was closed on December 9 last year after Lakes Leisure confirmed up to 69 customers had received minor injuries since it opened on May 31, 2008.
After occasionally opening over Christmas, the slide was re-opened with reduced water flow and a 1.4m height restriction on January 23 this year, until closing on June 12 following the Queenstown woman's complaint.
