Suppose you own a swimming pool or spa in Victoria and haven’t submitted a current Safety Compliance Certificate to your council. In that case, this might be the most important article you can read today.
By law, every pool and spa must have a barrier fence and gates that are compliant with current legislation. If your pool was built before 1994, the deadline to submit your Safety Compliance Certificate is mere months away, on the 1st of November 2021.
Whether you’ve already started the process or haven’t given it much thought yet, let’s take a look at how to get your spa or swimming pool compliance certificate lodged by the 1st November 2021 deadline.
This article is also useful for Real Estate Property Managers who manage a rental portfolio of properties that have swimming pools and spas.
Step One: Book a Pre-Compliance check today
First things first, it’s important to note that the legislation is quite serious. The penalty fines for having a non-compliant barrier fence and gates at your property are substantial.
Despite what people might believe, the Safety Compliance inspection is not always easy to pass. In our experience, about 90% of barrier fences fail their first inspection. That’s where a Pre-Compliance check is invaluable.
A Pre-Compliance check is not bound by the Building Act, meaning that, unlike the Safety Compliance inspection, it will not be submitted to the council if your barrier fails. However, with a Pre-Compliance check, you will receive a 12-page report outlining any repairs or changes required for your barrier to pass the Safety Compliance inspection.
When you book with Pool Barrier Services, we can refer you to a reliable network of service providers who know how to complete work in line with safety standards.
Regardless of whether you’ve started or completed improvements on your current barrier, we recommend that you book a Pre-Compliance check TODAY because time is running out. Don’t waste any more time guessing. Find out exactly what you need to bring your barrier fence and gates up to safety standards.
So, stop what you’re doing, go and book a Pre-Compliance check, then come back and finish reading this article to find out what to do next.
Step Two: Get familiar with the safety requirements and action them
Now that you’ve booked in your Pre-Compliance check, you can get a headstart on things by understanding the barrier fence and gate safety requirements. Regardless of whether you have a swimming pool or a spa, or both, you must have a compliant barrier fence and gate/s.
But in case you’re unsure, here’s a summary of minimum requirements for when you’d need a barrier:
- You have a permanent or temporary swimming pool or spa.
- The pool or spa holds more than 300mm of water at any given time.
- This also applies to inflatable pools with multiple components. Find out more about the requirements for inflatable pools here.
- The same rules apply for in-ground, above-ground and inflatable pools and spas.
When it comes to compliance, there are several areas that you need to be aware of. These include, but are not limited to:
- Materials that the barrier is made of.
- The size of gaps between, under and around the barrier and gates.
- Swing direction of any gates.
- All gates must be self-closing and self-latching.
- What is the non-climbable zone (NCZ), and are there objects and plants that can hinder the NCZ?
- The height of all barriers and gates around the entire pool and spa area.
You can find out all of these details in our recent article here, as well as reading current safety requirements from the government and your local council.
If you need a barrier installed and you want to make sure you are properly equipped with what questions to ask a pool barrier installer, take a look at our article here.
Once your Pre-Compliance is complete, you will be aware of any work required to bring your barrier up to standard. We strongly advise that you do any work as quickly as possible to ensure you have the best chance to pass your Safety Compliance inspection and lodge your Safety Certificate before the deadline.
Step Three: Book a Safety Compliance inspection
Once all of the work is complete, and you’ve ticked off the items on your Pre-Compliance report, you are ready to book your Safety Compliance inspection with a registered Building Inspector.
Once the inspection is complete and you have received a Safety Certificate, you will need to lodge the certificate with your local council. The Safety Certificate needs to be renewed every four years or any time you make major repairs or renovations to your property that impacts your barrier fence.
If your fence does not pass the Safety Compliance inspection, the building inspector is obligated by law to register your non-compliant barrier with your council. You will then be issued an improvement notice and 7-60 days to amend any changes before the council takes penalty action.
As you can see, the process of obtaining and lodging your Safety Certificate is potentially lengthy and must be started immediately. Contact us today to get the ball rolling and don’t risk substantial penalty fines.
OUR GUARANTEE: If we conduct a Pre-Compliance Consultation and the owners take our advice on rectification works, we will guarantee that if the Swimming Pool and Spa Inspector conducts a Compliance Inspection and it fails, we will pay for any revisits required to get the barrier compliant. We also GUARANTEE that if we conduct a Pre-Compliance Consultation on a pool or spa constructed between 1950 and 2010 and the barrier system is fully compliant, we will refund the Pre-Compliance Consultation fee.