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What does the standard cover?
Pool owners are required by law to ensure their pool is fenced and meets the swimming pool safety standard. The swimming pool safety standard is designed to minimise the chance that young children can get into the pool area unsupervised.
- Required height and strength of fences
- Non-climbable zones
- Gates. Their self-closing and self-latching requirements
- Direct access from a building into a pool area
- Mandatory pool signage
Check the standard
The Pool Safety Standard provides a range of requirements that a regulated pool must comply with. We recommend that you engage with a licensed Pool Safety Inspector or Building Inspector to assess your pool and provide guidance on whether the pool complies with the standard, and in the case where it doesn’t, provide advice as to what can be done to make the pool comply with the pool safety standard.
What is the Penalty for non-compliance?
Your local council is authorized to check if your pool complies and can FINE you if it does not. Make sure your pool is registered with the Building and Construction Commission.
Maintaning your Pool Barrier or Fence
Always inspect your pool fence and gate regularly and keep them well-maintained. It can’t have anything missing or broken that might allow a child to get through, under or over.
Check every section of your pool fence to make sure:
- it is rigid and strong
- every part is held in place securely with screws or permanent fixtures
- it has no holes or gaps greater than 100mm in any direction
- no horizontal rails are broken
- no vertical posts, palings, or bars are broken or wobbly
- no glass panels are loose or broken
- no part of the fence can be bent or moved.
Gates in pool fences must:
- automatically close and securely latch without being pushed
- never be propped open.
Check gates after heavy or continued impacts to make sure gates are still self-closing.
Glass Panels
If building pool fences with glass panels you must make sure the panels are made of reinforced glass and do not have signs of fracture.
Further Reading
WHY POOL INSPECTION MATTERS?
DO I NEED A POOL SAFETY CERTIFICATE IN QLD?
Yes. If you are buying, selling or leasing a property with a pool, you must get a pool safety certificate if there is not a current certificate in place.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF POOL SAFETY?
To safeguard young children from drowning or injury in a swimming pool by preventing access of young children to swimming pools. A swimming pool is to be provided with the means to restrict access to the pool by young children.
WHAT ARE THE AUSTRALIAN STANDARDS FOR SWIMMING POOL SAFETY FOR SAFETY BARRIERS?
It must be at least 1.2m high (as measured from the finished ground level) not leave a gap at the bottom bigger than 10cm from the finished ground level. if a boundary fence is part of the pool fence, the barrier must be 1.8m high. Pool owners must maintain a ‘non-climbable’ zone around the pool.
HOW LONG IS A POOL CERTIFICATE VALID FOR IN QLD?
Safety certificates are valid for 2 years for non-shared pools.
CAN YOU SELL A HOUSE WITHOUT A POOL SAFETY CERTIFICATE QLD?
A seller has an option to sell a property with or without a current pool safety certificate. With a pool safety certificate – The seller must give the buyer a copy of the pool safety certificate prior to entering the contract. Without a pool safety certificate – The seller must complete and give the buyer a Form 36- notice of no pool safety certificate prior to entering a contract of sale, and additionally send a completed copy of the form to QBCC before the property is settled.
THE FIVE MOST-COMMON SAFETY RISKS AT POOLS
- Faulty gate latches
- Objects such as furniture, pots and toys allowing children to climb into pools
- Poor fence maintenance
- Changing pool fencing without gaining approval
- Outdated “how to save a life” signs.
We encourage pool owners to be methodical when checking pool gate latches and hinges. Preventing downing is not about one thing, ultimately, this is about keeping everyone safe.
Many are at risk of slipping and being injured. People must follow pool safety regulations. It is recommended that nobody should run near or on the pool floors. Slipping near a swimming pool can also lead the person to fall into the pool which may cause them to drown.
