Why have pool inspections become compulsory?

One of the first things that we often find when we do a compliance inspection is that people want to know how this situation came about.

Why have the rules changed?

Historically, the Victorian State Government’s approach was that when you put in a pool safety barrier, it had to be inspected for compliance, and then you had to keep it that way. For many years the rules have said that it was your job as a pool or spa owner to ensure the safety barrier remained compliant. And so the government took the approach of just assuming everyone was doing the right thing.

There were three problems with that.

• First, not everyone understands their obligations when it comes to pool and spa safety.

• Secondly, barrier compliance is complicated and difficult. Apart from any other consideration, there are five different pool and spa compliance standards that apply in Victoria, loosely depending on how old your pool or spa is. So you might find that the rules for your barrier are dramatically different from the rules for your neighbour’s.

• And last of all, a perfectly compliant pool or spa safety barrier this year might not be compliant next. Hinges and catches wear out, tree roots move fences and gates so they no longer latch, wooden fences rot and metal ones corrode.

The result was hundreds of thousands of non-compliant pool and spa safety barriers. And too many little kids drowning, and too often the cause was a non-compliant barrier.