Background

The State legislation that governs fencing compliance and safety of pools and spas requires that safety barriers must be inspected by the City of Cockburn at least once every four years.

We're currently undertaking a review of the City's Pool Inspection Program to ensure we are compliant with this legislation, but more importantly, to ensure we are working together to reduce risks and increase water safety in our community. As part of our program review, we're keen to hear your thoughts on the inspection process, in particular around booking, fee structure and the new changes in legislation.

The City has undertaken an assessment of the current process and has identified that the current program is not complying with the KPIs set by the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, is prone to data entry duplication and is currently not covering the costs of the inspections.

The City is seeking to streamline and incorporate a level of automation into the Swimming Pool Inspection Process, to achieve and maintain the highest level of safety for our community, as well as inform the community of the changes to legislation for any new pools completed after 21 June 2024.

We need to hear from you

The City would like to hear from Pool and Spa owners, particularly those who have had an inspection at their property since January 2023. The City is seeking to understand feedback on the booking and inspection process, including what you felt went well and what elements were challenging or could be improved as part of the Pool Inspection Program review.

The City is also planning to move towards a program that recovers the cost of inspections and would like to hear your thoughts on how this could be structured.

Next steps

Following the initial community feedback, the City will conduct a workshop with interested participants to discuss the proposed changes in more depth. City Officers will then submit a recommended process and updated program to Elected Members for review and endorsement at a Council Meeting.

Survey

This survey has concluded.