Councils pushed to impose tougher backyard pool regulations after string of drowning deaths
Councils are being pushed to impose tougher regulations for pool owners after a number of toddlers tragically lost their lives in recent drownings across NSW and Queensland.
Royal Life Saving NSW’s senior research and policy officer Stacey Pidgeon urged parents and backyard pool owners to be vigilant around water, but said councils had an obligation to regulate these.
“Councils have a role to play and some are more proactive than others,” Ms Pidgeon told the Daily Mail.
The call to arms comes after alarming figures revealed most backyard swimming pools were failing safety inspections.
Inadequate locks, faulty self-closing gates, and landscaping that toddlers could use to climb over are some of the red flags found near nine out of 10 Sydney backyard pools surveyed.
The disturbing findings were obtained from a study across 18 councils in the Sydney metropolitan area, with one council reporting a non-compliance rate as high as 98 per cent, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Of the country's 280 drowning deaths in the year to June 2016, 45 occurred in backyard swimming pools, The Royal Life Saving’s National Drowning Report 2016 revealed.
Drowning numbers have remained high this summer with a number of children losing their lives in suburban pools in recent months.
On December 20, 23-month-old twins Robbi and Charli Manago were found floating in the family’s pool at the Sydney suburb of Kellyville Ridge. They both died days later.
Twenty-month-old Aria Dunn was found drowned in her family's fenced pool in Sydney's southwest suburb of Raby, on December 18.
RELATED:
Second twin dies after Sydney pool tragedy
Victim of a silent killer: Little Aria drowned in backyard pool
WATCH: Toddler scales pool fence in 21 seconds in online video sure to terrify all parents
A month earlier, a Queensland family farewelled sisters four-year-old Taya and three-year-old Patricia Young, who were found hugging each other at the bottom of the family pool.
Two-year-old Vera Peacock lost her life in Sydney's Macquarie Fields after she was found in a pool on New Year's Day when a pool gate had been left unlocked.
The Daily Mail revealed each NSW council had a different procedure when regulating backyard pools.
In Liverpool, 160 pools were inspected last year, compared to 18,000 in Blacktown, where five full time pool inspectors were employed.
Blacktown mayor Stephen Bali called his council's approach "proactive", where inspectors used Google Earth to locate pools then knocked on the doors of owners to inspect for a $150 fee.
He suggested a pool levy should be raised for ratepayers to cover inspection costs.
“Too many councils have just stuck their head in the sand,” Mr Bali said.
