Pool Safety - New Laws
Queensland has some of Australia's toughest swimming pool safety laws and since they were introduced in 1991, the number of child drownings has halved. Even so the statistics are still unacceptable as over the past three years, 18 young Queenslanders have drowned in private swimming pools.
In December 2008, the Queensland Government announced the most comprehensive review of the state's swimming pool safety laws in nearly 20 years. The review focused on reducing the number of drownings and serious immersion injuries in swimming pools involving children less than five years of age.
The result is a series of new laws governing pool safety. Stage 1 was introduced on 1 December 2009 and applies to new residential pools. The final stage, stage 2, commenced on 1 December 2010 and mostly affects existing swimming pools.
There is now one pool safety standard in Queensland that replaces 11 different pool safety standards. Under the new swimming pool safety laws:
• A pool safety certificate, issued by a licensed pool safety inspector, is required when selling, buying or leasing a property with a pool (pool safety certificates are valid for one year for a shared pool and two years for a non-shared pool).
• The pool safety standard applies to all pools associated with houses, units, hotels, motels, backpacker hostels, caravan parks, mobile van parks and other forms of short-term accommodation.
• The pool safety standard applies to indoor pools as well as outdoor pools.
• All swimming pools need to be included on the state-based pool safety register.
• Safety barriers are mandatory for all portable pools and spas deeper than 300 millimetres.
The pool safety register is being populated with Local Governments' records of regulated pools across Queensland. You can now search for a property and view details of the most recent pool safety certificate if one has been issued for that property. If the register shows that there is a current pool safety certificate for a property this can be relied on for any sale or lease of a property with a regulated pool.
The deadline for pool registration has been extended by six months to enable the government and the community to focus on flood and cyclone recovery efforts. Pool owners now have until 4 November 2011 to ensure their pool is registered. Penalties of up to $2,000 for non-compliance will apply after this time.
Pool owners have until 30 November 2015 to comply with the new pool safety standards, or earlier if their property is sold or leased before then.
This is only a brief summary of the new regulations; extensive information is available on the Qld Government website.
www.qld.gov.au/poolsafety
