The father of Samuel Morris, a toddler who slipped through a hole in the fence around the family pool and subsequently died, fears a review of NSW’s controversial pool rules could result in them being weakened and delayed.
The Minister for Local Government, Paul Toole, has told industry groups that the state’s complicated and controversial backyard pool fencing rules – which more than 90 per cent of the state’s 380,000 pools fail to meet – will be subject to an independent review by Michael Lambert, the former secretary of NSW Treasury.
“We need to do everything we can to prevent drownings in backyard pools, and we need to get the regulations right,” Mr Toole said this week.
“I am not sure of the intent of undertaking a further review when they have yet to implement the raft of changes from the last review,” said Mr Morris. His son Samuel was two in 2006 when he slipped through a gap in the pool’s fence, caused by a construction problem, fell into the pool and nearly drowned. Samuel suffered brain damage, and was severely disabled until he died last year.
The review, to be completed by December this year, will make recommendations on a new regulatory and enforcement framework that is simple and effective, facilitates a uniform standard and is proportionate to the risk being managed.
Pool deaths accounted for 39 out of a total of 266 drownings in the year ended June 30, 2014, according to the latest report by the Royal Lifesaving Society of Australia. Of those who drowned in pools, 14 were children up to four years of age, an 18 per cent reduction on the 10-year average.
Many children who have drowned in backyard pools did so because pool gates were left open or they were unsupervised by parents.
The review has been asked to recommend changes that encourage responsible owner behaviour.
Samuel Morris
Backlogs in inspections because of the high failure rate have twice prompted embarrassing last-minute decisions to postpone the introduction of a new rule that would require home owners to get a certificate of compliance before the property was sold or leased. These new rules have been postponed until April 26, 2016.
Many councils couldn’t keep up with the rush to get properties inspected, especially because most properties were failing the test. Sutherland Shire reported as many as 99 per cent of pools were failing initial inspections, with many pools failing to comply even after the same property had been inspected three or four times and made improvements. And the Real Estate Institute of NSW warned that these delays could stop sales and rentals.
The independent review follows years of lobbying by the Swimming Pool and Spa Association of NSW, which claims the current regulations are unclear, confusing and are being interpreted inconsistently throughout NSW.
The association’s chief executive, Spiros Dassakis, said NSW had the most complicated pool rules in Australia, which made it difficult for pool owners to understand and comply with the rules.
“There is too much interpretation. You can have 10 council inspectors inspecting the same pool, and half will interpret something one way and others interpreting it another way. You can’t allow people to misinterpret or disregard Australian standards.”
Many standards weren’t retrospective, which meant an inspector had to look at when the pool was constructed.
The association also wants the government to establish something like Queensland’s former Pool Safety Council, which would hear complaints from pool owners and make decisions. Currently, the only avenue for home owners is the Land Environment Court,
“There needs to be some avenue for consumers to address concerns they have, as opposed to being forced to spend thousands of dollars in the legal fees on interpretative matters.”
Pool and spa company owner Richard Dunn, who has had repeated fights with councils over fencing requirements, said many pool fencing rules didn’t make sense.
Mr Dunn, the owner of the Pool Clinic in Georges Hall, said the rules were inconsistent and illogical. “And I want to know how a public servant can tell you what to have in your backyard: they are telling people no gazebos, no barbecues.”
Some council inspectors have refused to certify pools as safe where a home owner has backyard garden furniture, even heavy objects many metres away from a fence, that could be dragged to the side of the pool and used by a small child as a ladder to enter the pool.
Too much trust was being placed in fences, Mr Dunn said, and more should be done to teach children to swim and educate parents on the need to supervise children near the pool .
He recently saw a three-year-old shimmy up and over a regulation fence and into a pool’s enclosure in 22 seconds.
“What’s missing [in the debate] … is nothing is said about a parent’s responsibility to look after their children.”
Mr Morris said four-sided isolation pool fencing had been proven to be the most effective way to prevent drownings, but the number one tool in preventing drownings was adult supervision. Having barriers in place “buys you time, even with an adventurous three-year-old climbing … which means you would be 20 or 30 seconds quicker getting there”.
Mr Dassakis told industry publication Pool and Spa Review he was pleased Mr Toole had listened to the industry, “one that has provided voluminous submissions offering sensible and workable safety solutions”.
Mr Toole said it made sense for Mr Lambert to conduct the review because he was also reviewing a complementary piece of legislation, the Building Professionals Act, which covers the certification of pool inspectors and building regulations.
A discussion paper will be released in September.
Julie Power July 16, 2015 – 1:47PM
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