Every private swimming pool that can hold more than 30cm of water should be fitted with a pool safety net or a safety cover. Moreover, the safety net or cover must be installed and fitted by an “accredited responsible party” and is not allowed to be a DIY installation.
Quoting a draft update from the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS), a Business Insider South Africa report said the standards bureau is in the final stages of updating rules for private swimming pools because children were still drowning in residential swimming pools.
The requirements form parts of SANS 10134, an SABS standard last updated in 2008.
Owners of residential swimming pools, splash pools, and even fish ponds or water features – where the 30cm limit would be exceeded – have been urged to take note of the draft regulations.
According to the draft, one of the recommendations is that a fence around a swimming pool does not provide enough protection and therefore every pool should have a pool safety net or a cover as well.
The report notes a pool cover would be deemed illegal if it allows rainwater to collect on it for more than five minutes or if a child can unfasten it.
According to the standard, larger swimming pools should have a safety net or cover with a carrying weight of at least 220kg to “permit a rescue operation” while holding up one child and two adults.
For pools with a width of less than 2.4m at its widest point, the weight requirement is 125kg – enough to hold one adult and a child.
Other changes to the standards include making the pool owner responsible for the pool having both a fence or wall and a pool safety net or cover.
The standard requires walls or fences to be at least 1.2m tall, to be sunk into the ground at least 50cm deep, be difficult for children to climb and with secure gates that are tough to for children to open.
There is also a move to ensure that pool owners regularly inspect a pool enclosure for damage and that they ensure there is some sort of pole, such as a leaf scoop or a pool brush, that is on hand near the pool “to assist a distressed person in the water, the report notes.
In addition, property renters or other non-owners will be obliged to keep any unsafe pools completely empty.