KEY POINTS:
Laws around the fencing of swimming pool are to be reviewed for the first time since they came into effect 20 years ago, Building and Construction Minister Shane Jones announced today.
The review would examine the legislation with the aim of making changes to improve swimming pool safety.
Mr Jones said the average number of children under six who drowned in swimming pools each year had been reduced by nearly two thirds since the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act was introduced in 1987.
However, even one death was one too many, he said.
In the seven years before the Act took effect, 81 children drowned in swimming pools, an average of 11.5 per year.
The average in the past seven years has been four.
Water Safety New Zealand figures showed 193 children have drowned in swimming pools since 1980.
Of these, 84 per cent drowned in private pools.
Mr Jones said the drop in the number of children drowning was significant considering the estimated number of private swimming pools had risen 30 per cent in the past decade - from about 55,600 to about 73,700.
He will release a consultation paper as part of an evaluation of the Act on Monday.
"It would appear that some of the deaths still occurring could be prevented by proper fencing. Hence the need to look at whether changes to the Act would improve compliance and enforcement," Mr Jones said.
Public submissions on the evaluation of the Act close on June 30, 2008.
"We want to see what has been learned since the Act was introduced, to make sure it operates as effectively as possible, and that it allows flexibility to reflect modern house design, which often incorporates easy indoor/outdoor access."
The evaluation will also seek to:
- further restrict the access of young children to swimming pools under both the Act and the Building Code;
- improve uniformity in territorial authorities' interpretation and application of the Act;
- provide more certainty to pool owners and territorial authorities about their responsibilities and obligations under the Act;
- Increase public awareness of pool owners' responsibilities under the Act.
- NZPA
