Call for changes to Victorian pool fencing laws

VICTORIA’S pool fencing legislation is failing children and in urgent need of overhaul, with thousands of backyard pools potential death traps.

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VICTORIA’S pool fencing legislation is failing children and in urgent need of overhaul, a Leader News investigation has found.

Our exclusive survey of Melbourne councils reveals that the vast majority of backyard pools and spas consistently fail pool fencing checks.

This week, as we head into summer, Leader launches Make Pools Safe, a campaign for an overhaul of the laws in Victoria, where an outdated and confusing system of rules apply depending on the age of the pool.

Our campaign begins with a call for a mandatory pool register to record all backyard swimming pools in the state and a requirement on owners to obtain a pool barrier compliance certificate when a property is sold or leased.

And the Swimming Pool and Spa Association of Victoria has today backed our campaign, urging the State Government to act to create a register as well as require pool owners to have mandatory safety checks every three years.

Chief executive Brendan Watkins said governments had been talking for years about ways to improve pool safety but nothing had been done to fix compliance problems.

“SPASA Victoria is strongly of the view that inspections of pool and spa barriers should be mandatory in Victoria to improve safety outcomes,” Mr Watkins said.

“We implore the Victorian Government to pass legislation to immediately make pool barrier compliance certification mandatory for all properties sold or leased in Victoria and introduce a mandatory barrier inspection protocol that ensures all residential properties with a pool or spa is inspected every three years.”

Victoria’s laws on pool fencing are in serious need of an overhaul.

Leader News has found:

THOUSANDS of pools built before 1991 do not legally require a four-sided fence, instead relying on modified doors and windows of the house to form part of an effective barrier

COUNCILS are struggling to enforce pool safety laws with many admitting they have no idea how many pools are in their municipalities and most checking only a tiny number each year — and the vast majority fail safety checks

SEVERAL coronial inquests have called for sweeping changes to pool fencing laws — including mandating that older pools are brought up to modern day standards — but successive governments have failed to act

A FORMER council building inspector revealed that of the 2000 backyard pools and spas he inspected throughout his career, just one complied with pool fencing laws

AFTER several high profile pool drownings in 2013 the then Planning Minister and now Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the government was committed to tougher laws, but, nearly three years and dozens of drowning deaths later, nothing has changed

21 CHILDREN under four drowned in Australia in the past year but Coroner Sara Hinchey said for every death there were another 12 who suffered “non-fatal drownings” which often involved devastating brain damage

Mr Watkins said Victoria was now lagging dangerously behind other states when it came to pool safety.

“What we know is our members are in the field seeing backyard pools seven days a week and many, many pool barriers have not been maintained and are not safe,” he said.

“It’s time for government to act. Mandatory pool barrier inspections will keep our kids safe.”

Mr Watkins said inspections were mandatory in NSW and Queensland as well as Western Australia, where there had been a massive drop in toddler drowning deaths since the introduction of mandatory barrier inspections in 1992.

In Victoria 43 people drowned in the past financial year but when non-fatal drownings are added the figure rises to 113.

Drownings of children aged 0-4 are of high concern, with an 8 per cent increase in deaths compared with the 10-year average, according to Life Saving Victoria’s latest drowning report.

Planning Minister Richard Wynne did not respond to requests for comment on the state of Victoria’s pool fencing laws.

HOW OUR COUNCILS STACK UP

Council pool inspections in the past year

Thousands of pools in Victoria may not comply with pool fencing regulations, a Leader survey has found.

BOROONDARA: 24 pools inspected, zero compliance

DANDENONG: 22 pools inspected, zero compliance

FRANKSTON: No exact figures available but issues 40-55 non-compliance notes a year

GLEN EIRA: 195 pools inspected, more than 98 per cent failed to comply

HUME: 196 pools inspected, “at least 90 per cent” failed to comply

KINGSTON: Could not say how many inspections were made or how many pools complied

KNOX: 100 pools inspected, no figures provided but the “vast majority” failed to comply

MACEDON RANGES: No proactive pool inspection program and no figures available

MAROONDAH: 270 pools inspected in the past 18 months, 98 per cent failed to comply

MONASH: 151 pools inspected, only eight complied.

MOONEE VALLEY: 27 pools inspected, zero compliance

MORELAND: 130 pools inspected, “many” failed to comply

MORNINGTON PENINSULA: 261 pools inspected, zero compliance

NILLUMBIK: 75 pools inspected, 23 complied

STONNINGTON: 60 pools inspected, zero compliance

WHITEHORSE: 100 pools inspected, zero compliance

WHITTLESEA: 49 pools inspected, five complied

YARRA RANGES: 61 pools inspected, nine complied

Different rules apply for different pools in Victoria, depending on when the pool was built. Picture: Chris Eastman

WHAT IS THE LAW?

All pools and spas with a depth of 30cm or more — even inflatable ones — must have a safety barrier, but what constitutes an acceptable one differs depending on the age of the pool.

Pools built before April 8, 1991

Can use existing buildings such as a house as a barrier provided any door or gate leading to the pool area is self-closing and self-latching and the latch is at least 1.5m above the floor level. Windows must also be at least 1.5m above the floor or have a securely fitted flyscreen or restrictions on how far they can open. Boundary fences used as a barrier must be 1.5m high.

Pools built between April 8, 1991 and April 30, 2010

Can still an use existing building such as a house as a barrier provided any door or gate leading to the pool area is self-closing and self-latching and the latch is at least 1.5m above the floor level. Windows must also be at least 1.5m above the floor or have a securely fitted flyscreen or restrictions on how far they can open. Boundary fences used as a barrier must now be 1.8m high and non-climable on the pool side.

Pools built after May 1, 2010

Can not have direct access from the house or any other building. Boundary fences can form part of the barriers but must be 1.8m high and non-climable on the pool side.

Source: Victorian Building Commission. Information provided as a guide only, check with your council to ensure compliance.