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Pool Safety Is Your Responsibility – Council Urges Residents To Comply Or Risk Heavy FinesLatrobe City pool owners are being urged to ensure their pool complies with safety requirements after the Magistrates’ By Latrobe City - 31st March 2011 - Back to News Court recently fined two residents between $2,500 and $5000 plus legal costs. Both residents were also convicted of failing to maintain pool barriers.
Latrobe City’s mayor, Councillor Darrell White, said that maintaining safety around a pool was about far more than just compliance with regulations.
"Failing to adhere to safety requirements puts lives at risk. It is that simple. A gate that doesn’t lock, a fence that is not the correct height, items left lying around that could be used to climb the fence, all these issues constitute a danger to life. Too many young children drown each year in Australian backyard pools and that is why we need people to understand that a pool, whilst a pleasure, is a responsibility too.
"A pool audit is currently being undertaken by council staff and to date 300 pools have been inspected and 98% complied with safety requirements. This may seem like a high compliance rate, but when we are dealing with such serious outcomes for failure to comply, there is no room for any complacency. We want that figure to be 100%," Cr White said.
Latrobe City’s municipal building surveyor, Chris Watson, said that
Council had negotiated with the residents in question for over a year before the matter went to court.
"Issues with these pools were identified during routine inspections and we underwent a lengthy process of trying to ensure the residents complied with the regulations. Despite numerous requests during this time, the issues were not rectified and the matter proceeded to the Magistrates’ Court.
"We are continuing our audit of pools until June and would hope that pool owners will make every effort to abide by the rules and ensure their pool is safe. As we can see from these recent cases, financial penalties for failure to comply are severe," Mr Watson concluded.
A self-assessment form for pool safety requirements and further information about pool safety are available on council’s website at http://www.latrobe.vic.gov.au/Services/Building/PoolAndSpa/.
Pool and Spa Safety Tips
· Maintain gates and fences
· Fit correct safety measures to gates, doors and windows
· Remove any items that may be used to climb for access
· Safety barrier is required even for inflatable, temporary pools where the water is deeper than 300mm and not emptied after use.
· Do not prop open the gate
Media Enquiries:
Media Relations Team
Telephone: 5128 5458 or 0407 862 977
Jacinta Kennedy, Manager Community Relations
Telephone: 5128 5421 or 0401 824 195
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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