New laws for QLD pool fencing

If you’re selling a home in Queensland with a swimming pool, the laws are about to change.

Starting this summer, if you want to sell or lease your home you’ll need to have a licensed pool safety inspector check out your pool and issue a pool safety certificate.

The swimming pool register and list of inspectors will be available on the Queensland Government Department of Infrastructure and Planning website soon.

To ensure your pool is safe, the Department have released a small brochure that recommends the following:

Pool safety tips

• close the pool gate and keep your pool safety barrier maintained
• supervise young children around pools at all times
• begin swimming lessons for your children
• keep outdoor furniture away from the pool safety barrier
• move pot plants and other climbable objects away from the pool safety barrier.

Why pool safety barriers fail—common problems

• the gates are not self-closing and self-latching from all points
• the height of the pool safety barrier is less than 1200 millimetres because ground levels and garden beds have increased or grown over time and have, therefore, reduced the height of the pool barrier
• the adjoining boundary fences have climbable rails
• the windows, opening into the pool enclosure, are openable with more than a 100 millimetre gap
• there are climbable objects near the pool safety barrier.

Ensure your pool safety barrier complies

• replace, tighten or adjust the hinges on your gates
• make sure the pool safety barrier height is 1200 millimetres from bottom to top
• trim back any branches that a child could use to climb over the pool safety barrier
• shield or remove climbable objects within 900 millimetres of the pool safety barrier
• install permanently fixed security screens on windows that open into the pool enclosure
• remove climbable objects from the pool safety barrier and surrounding area.

For further information visit www.dip.qld.gov.au/poolfencing.