Pool Fence Inspections

Pool Fence Inspections

The Samuel Morris Foundation congratulates Sunshine Coast Council for it’s proactive approach toward domestic swimming pool safety, and encourages other Councils around Australia to follow this proactive lead.

This proactive approach is exactly what the Samuel Morris Foundation has been lobbying for during the past two years, and Sunshine Coast Council have been one of the leaders in Local Government actions on pool safety . Such success can only be achieved by the lobbying of many groups and we acknowledge the long term work of our partners ROYAL LIFE SAVING in pursuing improved standards, and other organisations like KIDSAFE for their lobbying activities on child safety.

To help reduce the risk of young children drowning in pools, Sunshine Coast Council will be conducting inspections of residential swimming pool fences at various properties throughout the Coast from Thursday 6 August.

Unfortunately not all properties will be visited in this round of inspections. If residents are contacted, an authorised council officer will inspect the pool or outdoor spa fence to ensure it has been properly maintained and complies with pool safety laws.

Even though pool fences are an important preventative measure, only about 20 per cent of pool fences pass Sunshine Coast Council’s inspection. In fact in other recent pool inspection programs by local councils pass rates have been as low as 5% (results recently reported in Gladstone Council area), and results such as those within Sunshine Coast are typical.

It’s the property owner’s responsibility to ensure they have compliant pool fencing in place. Every State has pool fencing laws. Fences stop young children gaining unsupervised access to pools, making an approved, safe and compliant pool fence very important.

Swimming pool safety is a combination of teaching kids to swim, having adult supervision at the pool side and ensuring fences are properly maintained and installed,as well as knowing CPR in case something does go wrong. Drowning remains the single leading cause of death for Queensland children aged 1–4 years, and the second leading cause of death in this age group across Australia with the majority of these deaths occur in domestic swimming pools.

From 1992–2001, 50 children aged under five years drowned in residential swimming pools in Queensland. Of these 50, 86% drowned because the pool fence was non-compliant, that is the pool was either improperly fenced, not fenced at all or the gate was propped open.

If you are not sure of the requirements for your pool please visit www.homepoolsafety.com.au and download the checksheet based on the Australian Standard.