Pool Fence Safety Inspections and Swimming Pool Safety Certificates Queensland - Qualified Pool Inspectors

Queensland Government Pool Safety Improvement Strategy Stage 2 - Qld new pool laws and legislation - Qld pool signage
Safety improvement strategy - stage 2

Stage 2 of the Queensland Government’s pool safety improvement strategy is expected to start this summer and mostly affects existing swimming pools. It includes:

  • replacing 11 different pool safety standards with one pool safety standard for all pools, the Queensland Development Code, part MP 3.4 (both new and existing pools must be upgraded to comply with the standard within five years unless the property is sold or leased first)
  • a five-year phase out of child-resistant doors used as pool barriers for existing pools (self-closing and self-latching doors), unless the property is sold or leased first
  • wider application of pool safety laws to include indoor pools and pools associated with hotels, motels, caretaker residences, caravan parks, backpackers, hostels, mobile home parks and homestays
  • a sale and lease compliance system requiring pool safety certificates to be obtained from a licensed pool safety inspector (pool safety certificates are valid for one year for a shared pool and two years for a non-shared pool)
  • requiring all swimming pools to be included, within six months, on a pool register managed by the state government
  • fencing for all portable pools and spas deeper than 300 millimetres
  • mandatory inspections by Local Governments for immersion incidents of children under five in swimming pools. These incidents will be reported by hospitals and the Queensland Ambulance Service, including voluntary reporting by doctors and nurses.

Commencement of the new point of sale and lease inspection system

For non-shared pools, such as pools for houses or townhouses or units with their own pool or spa, the laws requiring a pool safety certificate are expected to commence this summer.

For shared pools associated with short term accommodation, such as hotels, motels, backpackers or hostels, a six month phase-in period applies to obtain a pool safety certificate.

A two year phase-in period to obtain a pool safety certificate applies to other shared pools, such as common pools in a block of units.

 


 

 

qld government pool safety strategy stage 2


Pool safety inspections

Pool safety certificates will be required when selling or leasing a property with a pool. Commencing December 2010.

 

The importance of fencing

Approximately six toddlers drown in Queensland swimming pools every year. All swimming pool drownings are preventable.

In the decade from 1992-2001, 73 children aged under five years drowned in residential swimming pools in Queensland.

  • 21% drowned because the pool was not fenced.
  • 46% drowned because they gained access through the fence (that is, the gate was defective, or the gate was propped open).
  • 13% drowned because they gained access through defective house doors (in three-sided fencing permitted for pools approved prior to 1991).