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You can’t have a non-compliant pool fence. You are legally and financially exposed if you do, and “I didn’t know,” is not a defence. Here’s a breakdown of this complex area including the vexed Non-Climbable Zones (NCZ).
Renting a property with a pool: Holding a Certificate of Compliance in NSW (and similar for other States) is mandatory if you own a property with a pool and intend leasing or renting it out.
Registering a pool: In 2023 it became law that all pools (in NSW) must be registered on the NSW Swimming Pools Register. www.swimmingpoolregister.nsw.gov.au
Buying a property with a pool: It may be that a property you are looking to purchase has an older pool and the owners may not have registered it. Sellers must by NSW law, attach a valid swimming pool Certificate of Compliance; or an occupation certificate within the last three years; or a non-compliance certificate for the pool and its fencing as a condition of settlement which the new homeowner must take responsibility for rectification. Many homeowners and prospective purchasers, however, cannot distinguish between what is, and what is not, a compliant pool enclosure, hence the requirement for professional inspections.
Do we really need all this bureaucratic compliance? Yes. As someone who has actually pulled an almost blue, lifeless four year old child from the bottom of a family swimming pool – despite four responsible parents being nearby – my answer is a resounding “yes.” It’s all too easy for parents to get distracted enjoying themselves, and the allure for 4-5 year olds to get into the pool is overpowering for them. They’re resourceful little beings … so the following pool fencing rules are all about saving kids’ lives. (In case you are interested, we were able to resuscitate the little boy and he’s now a grown man. – but it could have been the other way – so quickly).
Statistics: Six percent (6%) of all drownings in Australia in 2022-23 were of children 0-4 years of age (16 children, 0-4 years old). Of these, 25% drowned in backyard swimming pools. As sad as this is, the encouraging news is that there has been a 45% reduction of child drownings in swimming pools for the 2022-23 period compared to 20 years ago.[1] Improved regulations are playing a significant role in getting these statistics down. But – it’s up to every pool owner to play their part.
Legislation, Certifiers, and Council inspectors: the NSW Swimming Pools Act 1992 is the overriding legislation governing swimming pools. NSW Fair Trading has a free compliance checklist which you may find helpful to assist in self-assessment for pool owners. Other States have similar legislation. https://www.swimmingpoolregister.nsw.gov.au/checklists
E1 Accredited Certifiers are Public Officers and trained pool fencing compliance experts who will issue you with a Compliance Certificate or a Notice to Comply. They may also advise you on how to achieve compliance. They are required by law to act in the best interest of the public, and not the wishes of the pool owner.
Local Council Inspectors are required to inspect every pool in their LGA each five (5) years to ensure it is compliant, or issue defect notices and/or fines if it is not compliant.
Every pool must also have an approved CPR safety notice prominently and permanently on display.
Pool fencing, and particularly boundary fences, are the most contentious issue for any pool owner to manage.
Pool gates: All pool gates must open outwards away from the pool; be self-closing; and be self-locking without any intervention. Locks must be 1500mm high from the ground, or 150mm below the top for glass gates with the opening mechanism on the inside of the gate thereby requiring an adult to reach over the gate to unlock it. Under no circumstances can the gate be propped open with pots, rope, chairs, or any other method. This is likely to incur an automatic fine.
Internal pool fencing: All pool fencing, not being any part of a boundary fence, must be a minimum of 1200mm high and not more than 100mm gap between the surface and the bottom of the fence. If tubular vertical or similar style fencing is being used, the gaps between the verticals cannot exceed 100mm wide.
Boundary fencing: This is where most people come unstuck. If part of your pool fence is also a boundary fence, then the boundary fence must be a minimum of 1800mm high measured from the finished ground level at the base of the fence from your side of the fence (i.e. poolside) – not your neighbour’s side.
Herein lies the frustration of every pool owner: you cannot control what your neighbour does – so, theoretically for example, your neighbour could have a ladder fixed to their side of the fence which a child could climb, and you cannot do anything about it.
What the legislation is designed to do is to make it so that everything on your side of the fence is so risky for a child that they would not, and could not, attempt to climb down your side of the fence to access the pool because the drop and perceived difficulty is just too great for them. Once you understand this concept, you’ll have a different view on why the legislation is the way it is.
COLORBOND® boundary fences: Frequently, boundary fences between properties are regulation 1500mm high. In order to be pool compliant, the boundary fence, if it is to form part of the pool fencing, must be 1800mm high on the poolside. There are only a very limited number of fence “toppers” which are 300mm high and are designed to go on top of COLORBOND®1500mm high fences. Only one or two of these toppers have a pattern that is less than a 10mm gap and can be added to the top of the fence to raise it up to 1800mm high to achieve pool fencing compliance. Even then, the poolside must have a sloping 45 degree angle where the topper meets the top rail of the COLORBOND® fence so that there is no 10mm climb zone between the join of the two fence components. Depending on the length of the fence to be fixed, it is frequently cheaper to replace the entire fence sheets (retaining but extending the existing posts) with new 1800mm high COLORBOND® sheets.
Perforated or laser cut screens: whilst patterned laser cut screens do look fantastic, virtually none will pass as pool complaint because they contain gaps/patterns which are greater than 10mm thereby creating climbable zones for children. The lightweight flexibility of these screens, together with their fixing method, may also present challenges. The market is dabbling with perforated screens with less than 10mm holes, but these have proven to be very expensive, of limited availability, and require solid frames which create their own issues.
Horizontal gaps: any horizontal gap greater than 10mm is deemed to be a foothold and fingerhold for a child and therefore constitutes part of a climbable zone. This can cause difficulty with such things as horizontal slats above existing fences where owners may have chosen to raise the height of the fence using slats. This can be done, but the gap must be <=10mm and have less than 10mm ledge or a 45degree angle where the slat meets the top of the fence.
Read on to understand what constitutes “Non-Climbable Zones…”
Non-Climbable Zones (NCZ): According to AS1926.1 – 2012, a Non-Climbable Zone is necessary to ensure that a child cannot use anything within a 900mm arc to use as an aid to climb into the pool area.
The best way to picture this (see diagrams) is to draw a 900mm arc from the top of the fence.
This arc also includes sideways where one fence profile (say an 1800mm high section) joins a lower (say 1200mm) glass section. There are readily available glass retaining wall panels that are designed to accommodate the height transition from 1800mm to 1200mm and are pool fencing compliant.
Nothing which could be a potential foothold can be in this 900mm zone. Examples include chairs, pot plants, shrubs, trees, ladders, steps, or other potentially climbable objects.
The biggest non-compliance issue over time, is that fencing which may have previously been approved, becomes non-compliant because later-on, owners add BBQs, gazebos, outdoor kitchens, raised garden beds, and pots. Upon re-inspection, these items cause the fencing to be non-compliant as they have now become a potential climbable zone within the 900mm arc.
There are five (5) specified Non-Climbable Zones as shown in the diagrams below.
Diagram 1: In this first example, which is not a boundary fence, the fence has a bar 300mm down from the 1200mm top so the 900mmm arc starts at the top bar but also must be intersected by the middle bar’s own 900mm arc. As the middle bar is only 300mm from the top bar, the 900mm arc test is satisfied between the middle bar and the bottom bar.
Boundary fence: In Diagram 1 below for example, if you extended the fence up to 1800mm to become a boundary fence, then the middle support bar would need to be at 900mm from the top (midway) to meet structural rigidity compliance so that the vertical bars could not be pushed open beyond the 100mm gap allowance. This fencing would then satisfy both the 900mm arc test from the top bar as well as the middle bar whilst also complying with the 1800mm boundary fence test.
Ref: https://poolsafetysolutions.com.au/non-climbable-zone/
The Non Climbable Zone (NCZ) successfully keeps children from accessing the pool area by forbidding any climbable objects, including trees, branches, or shrubbery to exist within 900mm of the pool, fences, and barriers. Steps near the pool fence frequently cause non-compliance issues.
The NCZ looks at:
Diagram 2 below, shows an internal pool fence at 1200mm high. As the pool owner controls the property on both sides of this 1200mm pool fence, the 900mm arc applies to the area outside the pool area and a 300mm exclusion zone (NCZ 4) applies to inside the pool area.
Note that a minimum of 500mm distance is required between the pool fence and any steps on the outside of the fence in order to comply with the 900mm arc test. This often creates issue for homeowners.
For an in-depth explanation of the NCZ 1-4 zones, refer to the Australian Standard.
This is why the placement of your pool pump/filter and pool pump cover is critical.
Wall mounted pool pump covers are best suited for fixing to a house or retaining wall.
Seldom will they be suitable for fixing to a boundary fence as they most likely will breach the Non-Climbable Zone 900mm arc. As all pool pump covers are between 1200 – 1525mm high, this means that the boundary fence would need to be a minimum of 2100mm (and potentially up to 2.4m) high to pass the 900mm arc test. This would be a very high fence requiring engineering design and your neighbour’s agreement plus most likely, council approval.
If your pool pump cover becomes a climbable zone, by backing onto a boundary or other fence and is within the 900mm arc of the boundary fence, or 300mm of an internal non-boundary fence, then you will most likely be served with a Notice of Non-Compliance. To solve this will be very costly and may involve relocating your entire pool pump and equipment.
This is why another one of our Blogs (Swimming Pool Pump Noise) talks about the critical aspect of the design and planning stage of your pool and specifically the location of your pool pump.
The easiest and best solution is to simply locate the pool pump and filter more than 900mm arc away from any boundary fence line and 300mm away from any internal fence and install a free-standing Hideaway Pool Pump Cover which has a back on it.
Problem solved and it gives a resort luxe vibe to your new pool area!
Done once – Done properly – Done for good.
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