© Queensland Building and Construction Commission 2014. ABN 88 568 500 260 Queensland Government
The role of Local Government
Local governments play an important role with regards to pool safety. They can:
- enter properties to inspect pools
- prosecute owners of non-compliant pools
- decide impracticality exemptions and existing disability exemptions
- cancel pool safety certificates for noncompliant pools
- declare areas as ‘remote’ to help minimise inspection costs for pools in remote areas
They are also required to:
- inspect pools if asked by a pool owner—for example, by employing a pool safety inspector in-house, by sharing a pool safety inspector between several local governments or by contracting to a private safety inspector
- provide records of existing pools to help establish the state-wide swimming pool safety register
- undertake enforcement action following an immersion notice from Queensland Health, a complaint notice or a notice from the QBCC
Local governments may charge a cost recovery fee to perform their responsibilities under the pool safety laws, except for responding to immersion incident notices or pool safety complaint notices.