Pool fences go unchecked as new law looms that will force owners to comply with safety rules

Fewer than one in 10 pool and spa owners have checked their backyards are meeting safety standards, before they are forced to register their pools this year.

Fewer than one in 10 pool and spa owners have checked their backyards are meeting safety standards, before they are forced to register their pools this year.

New laws passed by the state government last year mean about 158,000 backyard pools and spas will be placed on a register, with owners made to comply with an inspection regime to ensure barriers and fences are up to scratch.

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But the Herald Sun can reveal only 11,000 people have downloaded a Victorian Building Authority checklist designed to help assess the safety of barriers before the overhaul officially kicks in.

A voluntary register was also introduced this summer to prepare pool owners for the changes, but a VBA spokeswoman said the authority was unable to say how many people had signed up.

All backyard pools must be registered by the end of this year. Picture: Chris Eastman

It has also emerged that the authority has not decided whether those who sign up to the voluntary register will be automatically transferred when the mandatory system comes into force — and is taken over by local councils — by the end of 2019.

Four Victorians died in backyard pools in the past financial year, and 10 per cent of all drownings over the past decade happened in private pools and spas.

Another 10 Victorians were treated by paramedics after near-fatal drownings in backyard pools last year.

A VBA spokeswoman said the voluntary register was “intended to raise awareness of swimming pool and spa safety and encourage pool and spa owners to check the safety of their barriers”.

Planning Minister Richard Wynne says pool checks are “incredibly important”. Picture: AAP

About 23,000 people visited the VBA’s pool safety website this summer.

“The VBA encourages the use of the checklists and, most importantly, active supervision of young children around the pool and spa area at all times,” the spokeswoman said.

Planning Minister Richard Wynne has described the mandatory register and inspection process — involving checks every three years — as “incredibly important” in protecting children.

He said the summer was “a great opportunity” for pool owners to make sure they were compliant.

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning is developing a regulatory impact statement that will further outline how the register will work, and when it will come into force.

@tminear