Big fines if pool rules are broken
Many people setting up paddling pools for their children this summer will be breaking the law.
Few people go to the trouble of providing a 1.2-metre fixed childproof fence with a self-closing gate opening outwards when they give the children a pool to splash in.
They are also unlikely to ensure the garden hose has a non-return valve to prevent water flowing back into the mains supply when they’re filling the pool.
Any pool, fixed or portable, deeper than 400mm is now subject to safety provisions under the Building Act which provides for a $5000 fine if local council inspectors find an unsafe pool area.
Failing to fix an unsafe pool area when ordered to do so can mean a $200,000 fine, and $20,000 per day for every day it is not fixed.
Follow the rules
Water Safety New Zealand chief executive Jonty Mills wants the rules enforced.
‘‘It’s our expectation local authorities will carry out their obligations as detailed in the Fencing of Swimming Pools provisions of the Building Act 2004,’’ Mills said.
‘‘This includes ensuring any portable pool with over 400mm of water complies with the requirements and has a barrier to restrict access by young children.’’
Mills also pointed out retailers had a duty to inform pool shoppers of the rules.
‘‘Retailers are required by the Act to ensure if they sell a pool the purchaser is aware of their responsibilities.
‘‘If they fail to do this it is an offence,’’ Mills said.
He said anyone with a portable pool with less than 400mm of water exempt from the Act should make sure it was emptied every day so it did not present a drowning hazard.
‘‘However, there is no replacement for active adult supervision when it comes to child safety around water.
‘‘Babies and toddlers must be kept within arm’s reach and children should be actively supervised at all times.
‘‘It takes less than a minute for a child to drown,’’ Mills said.
Drowning was the fourth highest cause of accidental death in New Zealand.
There were six preventable drownings in domestic swimming pools so far in 2017, up from one last year and up on the five-year average of two home pool fatalities.