Calls for fencing regulations after toddler drowns in grandma’s backyard pond

Unlike swimming pools, there is currently no regulation for fencing around ponds and water features. 

Parents of a toddler who drowned in a backyard fishpond have called for authorities to regulate fencing for residential ponds.

In November 2022, the 23-month-old boy was with his grandmother in the backyard of her Victorian home while his parents were at work. 

At some point between 11:50am and 12:20pm, the toddler managed to escape the house and sneak outside. 

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The toddler drowned in the backyard pond. Picture: iStock

Toddler drowns in backyard pond

While his grandmother was inside having a shower, the toddler opened the sliding door at the rear of the house, which was unlocked

He then accessed the fishpond, which had a rocky and uneven bottom, roughly 61cm deep and filled with rocks. 

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While there were pot plants surrounding the water, there was no enclosure or fencing. 

At 12:20pm, the grandmother left the house to find the toddler lying face-down and unresponsive in the pond. 

Emergency services were called to the Victorian property, and despite best efforts from paramedics, the child was declared dead at 1:32pm. 

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Following the toddler’s death, there are calls for better fencing regulation for bodies of water such as ponds and water features. 

Unlike swimming pools and spas, currently, there are no building permits of safety barriers required for installing ponds or water features.

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Since 2010, four children under the age of four in Victoria have drowned in a residential pond. 

It’s time that changed, Paresa Antoniadis Spanos, deputy state coroner, said. 

“Given a child can drown in only a few centimetres of water, it is noteworthy that the VBA (Victorian Building Authority) does not require safety barriers for fish ponds,” she said.  

“Fish ponds are undoubtedly attractive to a young child, and it is entirely conceivable that they would be located in a child's own backyard at a depth greater than 30 centimetres.”

She added that the lack of fencing regulation for ponds and water features needs to be reassessed. 

“Given the considerable risk to young children posed by fish ponds, I direct that this finding be provided to the VBA for their consideration of the need to regulate the building and design of fish ponds in the interest of child safety,” she said. 

Originally published as Calls for fencing regulations after toddler drowns in grandma’s backyard pond