The ACT government is putting lives at risk by not heeding advice to create more consistent backyard swimming pool legislation and enact a central registry of all pools, according to Royal Life Saving ACT.
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Two years after a coronial inquest into the drowning death of a toddler in Canberra recommended the measure of a territory-wide database, Royal Life Saving ACT chief executive Cherry Bailey said it's concerning it hasn't been enacted and urged the government to create one.
"We've made multiple recommendations to the government that a registration list should be put together of home pool owners, as other states have done," Ms Bailey said.
"A database would help to identify what pools should be complying to a certain standard and how many would need to be brought up to standard."
Unlike states including NSW and Queensland, which have a centralised list of backyard pools, records of pool certification and compliance in the ACT are added to a building file for an individual block of land.
As a result, the government does not know how many swimming pools there are in total in Canberra. A spokesman said each building file would need to be looked at individually.
A central database was one recommendation made by the ACT coroner in 2016, following an inquest into the drowning death of River Parry in December 2015.
The 21-month-old was with family visiting relatives in Canberra from Perth when he drowned in an unfenced swimming pool.
At the time of the inquest, Coroner Beth Campbell said the death highlighted safety concerns surrounding ACT pool safety laws, which she described as inadequate and confusing.
Under ACT legislation, pools undergo safety inspections after construction. Older pools certified under less stringent safety requirements do not have to be brought up to modern standards.
The territory government announced in March this year it was developing a scheme to bring all pools up to the same standards.
Ms Bailey said a lack of consistent pool-safety laws in the ACT has been a cause for concern.
"Lives are being put at risk because pools in the ACT aren't required to have fencing or certain building standards depending on the time it was built," she said.
An ACT government spokesman said public consultation on the move would begin in coming months.
"Pool standards change over the years. When pools are installed, they are assessed for compliance with the standard in place at the time the pool was approved," the spokesman said.
"The ACT keeps records of building work but does not separately record or log pools and whether they did, or continue to, comply with the relevant standard."
Ms Bailey said Royal Lifesaving has urged the government to create a central database for several years, but has seen no action.
"We would like to see the current pool safety standard applied retrospectively and have all pool owners comply to the same standard regardless of when it was built," she said.
"Unfortunately, in previous years, other states and territories have jumped ahead of us in that part of the game, and now the ACT is now in a position where we are playing catch up."
An ACT government spokesman said it was committed to increasing safety for children around pools and was working to make sure swimming pools comply with the latest safety standards.
"We will consider recommendations for improvement as part of our ongoing work to ensure safety," the spokesman said.
Across the border in NSW, recent changes have seen pools recorded as part of a statewide register. They must be inspected every time a property is sold or leased to a new occupant.
Pools in apartment complexes or visitor accommodation must be inspected every three years.
"Pool owners must register their pools online on the NSW government's swimming pool register. Alternatively, the owner can pay a fee to their local councils to do this on their behalf," a NSW Fair Trading spokeswoman said.
"A homer buyer or tenant can have added assurance that the swimming pool has been recently inspected."
Queensland underwent similar changes in 2009. Pool safety checks were mandated for newly-built pools, before homes were sold or leased and after any drowning incident.
"The laws included pool fencing and CPR signage standards, mandatory follow-up inspections for new pools and a new single pool safety standard," a Queensland government spokeswoman said.
Regan Harrison from National Pool Safety said he conducts checks in Queanbeyan, Braidwood and Bungendore.
"My job and certification enables me to do compliance checks in NSW, but there's no legislation to have to do that here in the ACT, so there's no work in Canberra at the moment," Mr Harrison said.
"Here in the ACT we're in a situation where there's a lot of pools that have never been inspected and probably not up to date."
With summer just days away, Ms Bailey said home owners should make sure their pool is as safe as possible.
"I would urge home owners not to wait for new legal standards and take responsibility to make sure their pools are safe and use a home pool safety checklist," she said.
