Pool & Spa Safety Barrier Inspections

 It is now mandatory for owners of land where a swimming pool or spa is located to have their safety barriers inspected and to lodge a certificate of barrier compliance with their council.

Barrier inspections

Once your swimming pool or spa has been registered with your local council, you will need to arrange an inspection of the safety barrier to determine if it is compliant with the applicable barrier standard.

Certificate of barrier compliance

If we determine that your safety barrier complies with the applicable barrier standard, we will issue a Certificate of Pool and Spa Barrier Compliance (Form 23).

As owner of the land with the pool or spa, you are required to lodge the completed certificate with your local council. You must do this within 30 days of receiving the certificate. Contact your council for more information.

When the council receives the certificate, they will send you a written notice, which confirms:

• the date the certificate was lodged

• the date by which the next certificate is required to be lodged, which is 4 years after the previous certificate.

You will need to pay a fee to the council when you lodge the certificate.

Non-compliant barriers

If your pool or spa safety barrier is found to be non-compliant, we can either:

• issue a certificate of barrier non-compliance; or

• issue you a written notice specifying:

  • the matters which must be addressed to bring the pool barrier into compliance.

  • the period in which the barrier must be made compliant (within a maximum of 60 days); and

  • the date and time agreed for reinspect of the barrier.

After re-inspection, if we determine that the pool or spa barrier is compliant, we will issue a Certificate of Pool and Spa Barrier Compliance (Form 23), which you must then lodge with council.

If the barrier remains non-compliant, but we are satisfied that progress has been made towards bringing the barrier into compliance, we may allow you an additional 7 days to rectify the barrier. Otherwise we will issue a Certificate of Pool and Spa Barrier Non-compliance (Form 24)

If we issue a Certificate of Pool and Spa Barrier Non-compliance (Form 24), we will lodge it with your relevant council and provide you with a copy. Council will then take further action as deemed appropriate by them which may include any of the following measures along with an associated fine.

What happens next

When the council receives the certificate of barrier non-compliance, the municipal building surveyor will issue either:

• a barrier improvement notice, or

• a notice or order under the Building Act 1993 (if the municipal building surveyor considers that this is appropriate, depending on the nature of the non-compliance).

Preparing for inspection

A guide to arranging your Pool or Spa Safety Barrier Inspection

Owners of pools or spas with barriers that require multiple inspections before being certified as compliant will incur additional inspection fees compared to those whose barrier is certified as compliant after the first inspection.

An inspection of your pool or spa barrier can be carried out by Central Victorian Inspections Pty Ltd who are VBA registered building inspectors by following the process below:

A step by step guide to arranging your Pool and Spa Safety Barrier Certificate of Compliance (Form 23):

1. Register your pool or spa with your local council.

2. Upon registration Council will confirm what date your pool or spa was installed and which Standard your safety barrier will be required to comply with.

3. Review the relevant checklist (below) for helpful information about preparing for your inspection

4. Contact CV Inspect via our online booking page to arrange your inspection

5. Once inspected and approved, a Certificate of Pool and Spa Barrier Compliance (Form 23) will be completed and issued to you.

6. Submit your Certificate of Compliance (Form 23) to your local Council.

Self assessment checklists

To assist you in preparing for your inspection, the Victorian Building Authority has compiled a series of pool and spa safety barrier self-assessment checklists.

Use the relevant checklist to make sure check your barrier meets the relevant Pool and Spa Safety Standard requirements for its date of installation to try and mitigate the need for repeat visits or non-compliance.

• For pools and spas installed before 8 April 1991 - VBA Pool and Spa Safety Barrier Self Assessment Checklist 1

• For pools and spas installed between 8 April 1991 and 30 April 2010 - VBA Pool and Spa Safety Barrier Self Assessment Checklist 2

• For pools and spas installed from 1 May 2010 - VBA Pool and Spa Safety Barrier Self Assessment Checklist 3

When you are ready, complete our booking form and we will provide you with a quote for inspection.

See our current inspection pricing.