Bill to increase pool safety introduced

Press, 9 December 1982, Page 14

Bill to increase pool safety introduced

Parliamentary reporter A record number of small children would drown in private swimming pools in New Zealand this year, Mr J. J. Terris (Lab., Western Hutt) told Parliament, yesterday. Introducing a private member’s bill which would Require all sunken swimming pools to be fenced, Mr Terris said that 16 children’ aged under five drowned in private swimming pools last year, double the number in 1980. Already this year, 11 preschool children had been drowned in private pools, and with the swimming season about to begin again there., was likely to be a record number of drownings. Mr Terris’s four-clause bill, which was referred to a select committee, would require local authorities to introduce a model by-law which was produced by the Standards Association of New Zealand. Local authorities would be able to keep an existing by-law, provided it

was as strict as the model by-law. The requirement would be for swimming pools with side walls lower than 60cm to be surrounded by a fence at least 1.2 m high, or the property on which the pool was situated to be fenced. Mr Terris said it was estimated that between 20,000 and 25,000 new swimming pools were built each year. Studies at the Christchurch Clinical School had shown that 10 per cent of children lived on properties with pools and 20 per cent had access to a pool.

Research had shown that if the pool or property was fenced or the pool had sides higher than Im, the likelihood of toddlers drowning was significantly reduced, Mr Terris said. The Government had become concerned about the problem in 1979, when the Local Government Act, 1974, was amended to allow local authorities to pass by-laws requiring sunken swimming pools to be fenced.

Only 20 of the 220 local authorities had passed appropriate by-laws. Mr Terris dismissed objections to his bill. Many measures, such as the compulsory use of seat belts, were infringements of human rights imposed to save lives. The Under-Secretary for Recreation and Sport, Mr Thompson, said there was no doubt about the Government’s concern for swimming pool safety. However, it was a community dilemma which should not have to be solved by central government. Territorial local authorities were elected by local people, were accountable to them, and were in the best position to decide what their local areas needed. Mr Thompson said the bill was retrospective and would affect thousands of swimming pools. If it was passed it could create a huge amount of work and expense for home owners and councils, he said.