Houses for Sale Industry Update: Pool Safety Laws

As of December 1, 2009 the Government will begin implementing its first stage of the New Pool Safety Laws which will apply to all new residential swimming pools. A more comprehensive stage two will follow a year later targeting all existing Queensland pools most importantly a mandatory point of sale and lease inspection system. The driving force behind these new laws are the results of a recent study which showed that children are at greater risk of drowning or immersion injury in the first six months of moving to a property with a pool.

Stage One includes:

• Simplification of pool fencing laws to the latest pool fencing standards
• Provisions to allow temporary fencing for pools under construction
• Ensuring all new swimming pools undergo mandatory final inspections
• Mandatory CPR signage that meets current best practice
• Development of a model pool register
• Better reporting of immersion incidents from Queensland police
• More than tripling the spend on the State Government’s pool safety campaign

Stage Two includes:

• Rationalisation of 11 current pool fencing standards to just one standard
• Fencing for all portable pools deeper than 300mm
• Phase out of child-resistant doors forming part of a pool barrier
• Mandatory inspections at point of sale and lease of properties with pool to obtain a certificate of compliance
• A pool safety inspection certificate lasts for two years for a non-shared pool (e.g. house) regardless of how many times it is leased or sold in this period
• A certificate lasts for one year for shared pools (e.g. hotels  and apartments buildings) regardless of how many there are re-leased or sold in this period
• Removing the ability for councils to create local pool laws where state laws apply
• Local governments to gain greater powers of entry for safety inspections
• Model local law for councils to cover public swimming pools outside state laws.

For more information about the New Pool Safety Laws visit The Department of Infrastructure and Planning