New pool laws by West Torrens council in south Australia

 West Torrens Council has announced its plans to implement new pool safety laws. This decision comes in the wake of the results from current inspections, which show that 90 percent of the pools do not meet the basic standards.In order to reduce the number of drowning deaths; the West Torrens Council backed the proposal which was put forward by a State Government discussion paper. The meeting of the council regarding this decision was held last week.

Details of Safety Proposals

According to the proposals made in the paper, it would become mandatory to inspect all the pools at regular intervals. It would be necessary to keep a pool register and there would be fines incurred on unregistered pool owners.

Under the present standards only the pools which are newly-built need inspection. By implementing new laws the state will be in the league of other states. In the states like NSW, Queensland and WA, pool owners are sometimes fined to the tune of $16,000 if there are any offences found in the construction and maintenance of the pools.

The acting CEO of West Torrens Deccan Moore stated that the council did inspection of close to 50 pools in this year and realized that about 90 percent of the pools needed follow-ups. He said that this was a very disappointing figure as most of the pools do not fulfill the safety requirements. He further states that, this was the reason that council decided to reinforce the requirement of regular inspection of the pool and thereby strengthening the proposed regulations given by the State Government.

According to Mr. Moore, the cost of these inspections would be nearly $200. As these inspections would be mandatory, who will incur the expenses of these inspections is still not decided. He said that this cost will be incremental to the ratepayer and going by the rates in different states it would be in range of $200 to $250.

At present the council is not charging any individual pool owner for the inspections which they make. All the charges are passed on through rates. In the West Torrens Council area, there are close to two thousand backyard swimming pools.

Mr. Moore stated that the safety gaps included the gates which do not have proper locking facility and pools which do not have adequate fencing for protection. He further said that, they have very strict process for the approval of new swimming pools and now they would follow-up to see whether people are maintaining the standards that they have given in the application.

Statement of Spokeswoman

The spokeswoman of the West Torrens Council, Charles Sturt said that the council had asked for more time to respond to the paper from the State Government. In her statement she said that, the council has asked the State Government to indulge in consultation with the community, as the proposal involved the safety of the children, impact of the costs on the pool owners, differences between old and new pools, and proper administration of the legislation. She was not able to provide the latest pool inspection figures. However, the Weekly Times Messenger, reported that in Charles Sturt area there was one pool which was found last year which breached standards of safety. New pool laws by west Torrens council