Guidelines for pool owners and property agents - Department of ...

Guidelines for pool owners and property agents Page 5 of 56
From 1991 until December 2010, 11 different standards were applied to swimming pools
depending on the year of construction. In 2008, the Queensland Government conducted a
comprehensive review of Queensland’s pool safety laws. This review focused on reducing the
number of drownings and serious immersion injuries in swimming pools involving children less than
five years of age. A swimming pool safety review committee was established comprising
representatives from the Queensland Government, local government, industry and child and water
safety groups. The committee’s task was to consider key areas of swimming pool safety, and
provide information about how to improve Queensland’s swimming pool safety laws.
The committee provided its report in April 2009 with 23 ideas to improve Queensland’s swimming
pool safety laws. In preparing its report the committee considered submissions from a range of
stakeholders in addition to interstate and international regulatory systems for swimming pool
safety.
After considering the report and the submissions from the public consultation process, the
Queensland Government adopted a two-stage swimming pool safety strategy. The pool safety
strategy included amendments to the swimming pool safety laws, education programs about the
importance of supervision of children around pools and encouraging people to teach children to
swim at a young age.
Stage one commenced on 1 December 2009 and applied mostly to new residential outdoor
swimming pools. It included:
• introducing the latest swimming pool safety standards
• regulating temporary fencing for pools
• mandatory final inspections
• introducing the latest cardiopulmonary resuscitation signage standards.
The second and final stage commenced on 1 December 2010 and mostly affected existing
swimming pools. The stage two measures included:
• the establishment of an independent PSC
• a training and licensing framework for pool safety inspectors
• replacing 11 different pool safety standards with one pool safety standard for all regulated pools
– Queensland Development Code (QDC) Mandatory Part 3.4. Both new and existing pools
must comply with the standard by 30 November 2015 or earlier if sold or a lease or other
accommodation agreement is entered into.
• a five-year phase out of child-resistant doors used as pool barriers for existing outdoor pools, or
earlier if the property is sold or a lease or other accommodation agreement is entered into prior
to 30 November 2015
• wider application of pool safety laws to include indoor pools, pools associated with buildings
such as hotels, motels, caretaker residences and backpacker hostels (class 3 and 4 buildings –
refer to Appendix C of these guidelines) and mobile homes, caravan parks and homestay
pools
• a sale and lease compliance system, requiring pool safety certificates to be obtained from a
licensed pool safety inspector when a property with a pool is sold or a lease or other
accommodation agreement is entered into. Pool safety certificates are valid for one year for
shared pools and two years for non-shared pools.
• requiring all regulated pools to be included in a state-based pool safety register
• fencing for portable pools and spas deeper than 300 millimetres
Building Codes Queensland