With summer just around the corner, it’s time to prepare – and nothing is more important for homeowners than pool safety and compliance! For a summer season filled with outdoor fun and poolside moments, make sure your pool safety is up to scratch and your backyard is compliant.
Keep reading to discover three easy steps to make sure your pool area is a safe haven for their summer fun:
- Pool safety compliance
- Supervision
- CPR
Pool safety and compliance
As a homeowner, it’s your responsibility to ensure your pool area is safe and compliant – particularly during the warmer months.
Ensuring your pool is safe and compliant involves checking several factors, such as security fences, barriers, gates and non-climbable zones. Each state has its own regulations and ‘checklist’ to follow, so knowing the rules for your exact location is important.
NSW
Plenty of different factors affect Pool safety requirements in NSW. Ensure you are compliant with all the relevant regulations, including fencing requirements!
ACT
Canberrans, to ensure you’re doing your part, read more on the ACT’s the Pool Safety Reforms to guarantee you’re creating a safe space for all poolgoers.
VIC
The Victorian Building Authority has created a swimming pools, spas and their safety barriers checklist to advise homeowners of their obligations, before, during and after construction.
SA
In South Australia, since 1 April 2014, new swimming and spa pools must be inspected by Council within 2 months of the completion of the permanent, approved child-safety barriers. SA homeowners, discover the full safety checklist here to ensure you comply with all of your State’s regulations.
WA
The Rules for Pools and Spas document states that the strongest pool compliance breaches that contribute to accidental pool drownings include:
– Absence of a barrier between the residence and swimming or spa pool
– Ineffective gates or doors
– Gates and barriers not being maintained
– Ineffective placement or design of barrier
– Tempting objects floating in the water
NT
If you own a residential property in the NT, you may need a pool fence or a pool safety barrier that meets certain safety standards, if:
– The property is less than 1.8 hectares – including houses, units, townhouses and caravans and mobile homes in a caravan park
– The property has a pool or spa including in-ground, above-ground, inflatable and portable pools and spas
For information about pool barrier certification, read about requirements for pool safety barriers for properties 1.8 hectares or larger.
QLD
Homeowners in Queensland should follow these basic guidelines:
1. Register your pool — if you haven’t already, record your details online.
2. Take the online ‘Does your pool comply’ test or use the online pool compliance checklist.
3. Get a pool safety certificate from a licensed pool safety inspector — however, only required when properties are sold or leased.
Keep watch
The National Drowning Report 2024, released by the Royal Life Saving Australia, states that:
- There was a total of 323 fatal drownings from August 2023 – August 2024.
- Fifteen children under 5 drowned in Australia, down by 25% on the 1-year average.
- However, 92 adults 65 years or older downed (28% of the total), the largest number ever – highlighting the need for pool safety to protect all, regardless of age.
- 35 fatal drownings occurred in swimming pools, half of which were backyard pools.
Supervising children while they swim includes active supervision and presence within the swimming area. Watching from a kitchen window or glancing up every now and then while mowing the lawn isn’t active supervision.
Using floaties is a highly recommended precaution for younger swimmers, but they still don’t provide foolproof protection against drowning – in the event of a malfunction with the floaties, an adult must be close by to respond.
30:2
It pays to be prepared.
CPR, or Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation, is a life-saving procedure that ideally every person should know. It’s especially important for parents, as children natural curiosity and lesser understanding of danger doesn’t always mix well.
CPR is 30 compressions to 2 breaths, at a rate of around 100-120 compressions per minute – or, as an easy measure, stay in tune to the Bee Gees ‘Stayin’ Alive’. Compressions and rescue breaths vary for different ages. For instance:
- Infant: use two fingers for compressions and cover both nose and mouth during rescue breaths
- Child: use the heel of one hand and cover the mouth during rescue breaths
- Adult: use the heel of two hands and cover the mouth during rescue breaths
For those interested in proper first aid training, family first aid courses are inexpensive and are specifically attuned to child-related emergencies, such as drowning, choking, allergies and poisoning. Your children’s childcare centre or school should have recommendations for local courses, or can easily be found online.
Keep safety signs around
Have a CPR and Emergency Response sign around the pool area. In fact, it’s a legal requirement to have resuscitation and first-aid signage on display in your pool area, with certain details varying at State and Territory level. It is easy to feel panicked and forget basic responses when responding to an emergency. Having your phone near the pool area with you also ensures that emergency services can be called quickly if there is an incident.
The Royal Life Saving Society has other great pool safety resources, including:
Pool safety for peace of mind
Pool safety and compliance doesn’t need to be overly complex. By ensuring your pool area complies with local regulations, a working understanding of first-aid and a vigilant approach to supervision, you’ll be well on your way to enjoying a safer summer.
Once you feel confident that your pool area is safe and compliant, it’s time to kick back and enjoy your summer!
