15 Point Plan to Overhaul Swimming Pool Regulation
Forumlated by Lovegrove Solicitors & Hannah’s Foundation
In the bulletin dated 20th of July we had a feature article on toddler swimming pool deaths and redress recommendations. Katherine Plint, Executive Officer and Founder of Hannah’s Foundation, a charitable foundation that was established to raise awareness of this plight and advocate for change, read the article and then contacted and collaborated with Kim Lovegrove Partner of Lovegrove Solicitors, to formulate a 15 point plan for regulators to consider.
When regulators take on board holistic and enlightened reform initiatives the humanitarian dividend can be profound if the state of Queensland is any indicator. Since reform efforts were introduced by the Queensland Government in this area there has been one death of a child drowning in a backyard residential swimming pool. Commendations need to be given to the Queensland Government for proactive reform as well as the Victorian Government that is ‘upping the ante’ in this arena.
Statistics from other states are troubling, with 8 deaths recorded by Hannah’s Foundation to date from July 2011 in New South Wales alone. Since 2008-2011 Hannah’s Foundation has provided support to 23 NSW member families directly affected by toddler drownings of toddlers under 4 years of age. Tellingly those records show 21 of those toddler deaths occurred in rental properties. The startling number of deaths in rental properties has lead to the inclusion of specific points being raised in the plan to target this occurrence.
15 Point Plan to Overhaul Swimming Pool Regulation
Formulated by Katherine Plint, Kim Lovegrove, & Jarrod Gutsa(1).
1. An increase in public education and awareness programs targeted specifically at swimming pool fence compliance and maintenance (QLD Government has been the only state to implement campaigns on supervision and pool barriers using real tragedies).
2. Requirement for a state based pool registers and pool safety councils including government and non-government organisations in all states of Australia.
3. Mandatory reporting of all immersions by doctors, hospitals and ambulance (the real impact) and have every drowning investigated.
4. Removal of previous exemptions for pool fencing requirements.
5. Removal of the self closing doors and the requirement for four sided barriers around pools including spas and portable pools (must have door, barrier then pool as opposed to door then pool).
6. The adoption of the Australian Standards (AS1926-2007: Fences and Gates for Private Swimming Pool) in full.
7. Increasing the enforcement programs, including random inspections every two years for owner’s pools, shared pools 12 months, rental properties every lease renewal.
8. Reforming the law in tenancy agreements to make it a term of the contract that there is a current annual certificate attesting that the pool was inspected and found to be sound.
9. Compulsory inspections prior to the sale of a property, so that prospective purchasers know that the fence is in good repair.
10. Offences for owners not complying with the pool safety regime, including serious charges for cases of non-compliance where there has been manifest neglect or indifference.
11. Specific qualifications for Pool Safety Inspectors and including a national database of fully qualified PSI’s
12. Warning labels on all portable pools regarding pool fencing and increased awareness on Internet based shopping sites made mandatory where ever a pool is sold.
13. Regulations requiring pool builders to install pool fences as part of the infrastructure.
14. Introduction of a swimming pool levy to be incremented annually. The levy would be collected by council and put into a compliance account to help subsidize and enhance local government swimming pool auditing regime.
15. The introduction of an annual compliance certificate system to be issued by swimming pool owners to be done additionally to inspections.
Hannah’s Foundation does its very best to educate and preventswimming pool fence.jpg deaths in the area of swimming pool safety and provides 24 hour peer support to families who have experienced a water tragedy. To learn more about the foundation, please click here.
Kim Lovegrove’s article from the 20th of July concerning pool safety provides a more in depth analysis on some of the 15 points mentioned. The analysis demonstrates why these measures are necessary to help prevent swimming pool deaths. The article can be accessed by clicking here and to access hundreds of free online articles click here to enter the Lovegrove Solicitors E – Library.
(1) Jarrod Gutsa, Law Student, Monash University
