Royal Life welcomes nationally consistent home pool fencing legislation

Royal Life Saving Society - Australia (RLSSA) says a key decision made late last week will have potentially the biggest impact on reducing child drowning since pool fencing was introduced over 20 years ago.

RLSSA Chief Executive Rob Bradley says a decision by the Sport and Recreation Minister's Council (SRMC) to develop the principles for nationally consistent home pool fencing legislation is an important first step to reducing drowning deaths in home pools.

Bradley explained that "inadequate and inconsistent home pool fencing legislation and compliance has already cost hundreds of young lives in the past 10 years", adding that there is massive confusion among pool owners, local councils, real estate agents, manufacturers and equipment suppliers and installers about which parts of current legislation apply to their local area.

Bradley continued "establishing one nationally consistent approach will make life much better for everybody involved. It will ensure pool owners can provide a safer and more secure environment for young children. This will then provide the clear best practice for manufacturers, builders and installers of pools, pool fences, latches and gates."

Applauding the unanimous commitment of states and territories to develop a common set of legislation and compliance measures, Bradley went on to explain "I raised this issue with the Minister for Sport, Mark Arbib late last year. He has acted swiftly and decisively. This is an excellent result and will help save many young lives in the future.

"Despite a huge Keep Watch media campaign and awareness strategies over many years, too many home pool owners have not been heeding the message about toddler drowning.

Almost every week we are seeing another media report about a backyard pool drowning. The new proposed measures are critical to support the vital message that young children must have constant adult supervision."

"The Queensland Government has led the way on this important issue in recent years and I would like to acknowledge Phil Reeves (Queensland Minister for Sport and Recreation) for leading this push. Queensland has implemented a range of measures including the requirement for pools to be certified when the pool is first installed and when a house with pool is sold or rented. Fines are also imposed for non-compliant pools when owners refuse to do the right thing. Obviously this hasn't always been popular. When you are talking about reducing drowning, you have to do everything you can."

RLSSA and other members of the Australian Water Safety Council are now looking forward to working with the Standing Committee on Recreation and Sport (SCORS) government working party over the coming months to develop the consistent best practice approach.

The Australian Water Safety Council will also work with the Standing Committee on Recreation and Sport on improving standards for learn to swim teachers, professional practice and programs.

It will also investigate issues of access and availability to swimming lessons following research data released late last year which suggests thousands of Australian primary school aged children are essentially not receiving any swimming and water safety education.

Figures show drowning deaths have increased by over 15% in the past two years with over 150 children aged 0 to 4 drowning during the last 5 years - half of these deaths being in backyard pools.

Research indicates as many as 85% of home pools are either not fenced at all or are non-compliant with safety requirements â RLSSA and the SRMC agree that this is totally unacceptable.

Image credit: Royal Life Saving Society - Australia.