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New swimming pool fence safety standards for residential property owners

20 April 2010

Pool fencing are designed to look atrractive and comply with safety standards

Residential pool safety has long been an issue that families and governments agree upon – it’s vital if we are to turn around the number of child deaths and injury from swimming pool accidents.

In Queensland, drowning accounts for one-quarter of paediatric injury deaths and is the most common cause of traumatic death in children aged under five years. Around half of the children under five who drown in Queensland do so in residential swimming pools.
Queensland Government’s ‘Swimming Pool Safety Guidelines’ published in April 2010

In December 2009, the Queensland Government tightened safety standards for outdoor residential pools.

What home owners need to know about the new pool safety legislation

Pool fencing must comply with the latest pool fencing standards (available from the Department of Infrastructure and Planning Building Codes Queensland).

Temporary fences that comply are permitted for a maximum period of three months during the construction of a pool. After this time, compliant permanent fencing must be built. Both temporary and permanent fences require inspection and certification by the building certifier who approved the application.

If the final inspection has not taken place, building certifiers will undertake a mandatory follow-up inspection within a set time frame (six months for new pools or two years in cases where building approval is granted for a swimming pool and a new residential building) from the date of the building approval for the swimming pool.

In addition, pool owners are to display a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) sign that reflects the current CPR method adopted by the Australian Resuscitation Council.

What swimming pools are affected by the new regulations?

Front cover Queensland Government's Pool Safety Guidelines April 2010

Download a copy of the Swimming Pool Safety Guidelines 4th edition 2010

The legislation applies only to outdoor swimming pools on residential land so any residential home owners with a pool need to ensure they comply with the new regulations. Importantly, the pool must have approved safety fencing to prevent unsupervised access by young children.

Portable wading pools with no filtration system that hold no more than 2000 litres of water and less than 450 mm deep do not need to be fenced. All other portable wading pools require a fence. Indoor pools that are completely enclosed by the walls of a building are also excluded from pool fencing laws.

What are the legal obligations of pool owners?

Pool safety laws require home owners to construct and maintain fencing around their swimming pool regardless of when the pool was installed. For in-ground pools, the pool owner is generally the owner of the residential property.

If a person renting a property buys a portable pool that requires fencing, they are considered to be the pool owner and must ensure the pool is fenced.

Before a pool is filled with water to a depth of 300 mm or more, the fencing must comply with the pool fencing standards and a building certifier must inspect the pool and its fencing and issue the owner with a final certificate.

How to maintain pool fencing?

If a substantial portion of a pool fence is demolished or removed, it must be replaced with a new fence. The new fence must comply with current pool fencing standards and not the standard that applied when the original fence was built. If a substantial portion of a pool fence is in such a state of disrepair that it cannot be practicably repaired, it must be replaced with a new fence that complies with current pool fencing standards. If only a small part of the existing fence is in a state of disrepair, it may be repaired to the same standard that applied to the existing fence.

If pool owners are unsure if their pool fence complies, they should contact their local council. Penalties of up to $16 500, and on-the-spot fines of up to $700, may be imposed for non- compliant pool fences.

This information is summarised from the Queensland Government’s Department of Infrastructure and Planning.

Read about Stage 2 of the Pool Safety Improvements Strategy.

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