A new financial year means it is time to renew your facility’s subscription to the Guidelines for Safe Pool Operations (GSPO).

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The GSPO are the recognised national industry standards that describe and make recommendations on the appropriate minimum standards of safety attached to the design, ownership, and operations of aquatic facilities. They provide a recognised standard of care in particular areas of design and operations.

All aquatic facility designers, owners and operators are strongly recommended to access and understand the GSPO to meet their obligations under the relevant State and/or Territory health and safety legislation.

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Multiple subscriptions

Subscribers can easily register up to 10 facilities or users to a subscription with the option to pay by credit card or invoice. There are discounts available of up to 10% for up to 10 facilities.

For subscribers with more than 10 facilities or users, a formalised Management Subscription service is available. The Management Subscription option applies to organisations who are either managing multiple aquatic facilities or are a member-based association whose membership includes aquatic facilities. Discounts up to 30% are available for subscribers with more than 10 facilities.

To arrange a Management Subscription, please contact: aquatics@rlssa.org.au

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“Renew in the first week of July to enter the draw to win a ticket to the World Conference on Drowning Prevention – valued at $875.”

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Renew in July to avoid CPI increase

There will be no increase in price for GSPO subscribers if subscription/renewal takes place in July. However, a CPI price increase will be applied from 1 August.

Management agreements must be renewed and paid for in July to avoid the CPI increase. CPI is currently 7%.

The Australian aquatic industry continues to lead the way in recognising the skills and experience of older workers and women, with the National Aquatic Industry Workforce Report 2023 also revealing improvements in Indigenous employment rates.

The report, which was conducted by Royal Life Saving Society – Australia, presents demographic information on the key roles and make-up of the workforce across Australia and builds on research previously undertaken in 2019. More than 2000 workers completed the detailed survey which informed the report.

Royal Life Saving will host a lunchtime webinar Wednesday 19th July to launch the report and present its key findings. The webinar is free to access and a recording will be made available to GSPO subscribers

We are pleased to be joined by an expert panel of presenters and speakers including:

* Shaun Jackson, RLSSA
* Nicky Sloan, City Venue Management
* Georgie Nichol, AUSTSWIM
* Grant Connors, Belgravia Leisure

Webinar Details – Wednesday 19th July 2023, 1:00pm-2:00pm AEST

Registration is essential.

People living in South East Queensland are invited to have their say on the new draft South East Queensland Water Safety Strategy, which was released today and developed in response to high levels of fatal drowning in the region.

It follows a two-day forum which gathered community groups, emergency services, water safety experts and government representatives from a range of local, state and federal government agencies in May.

Forum attendees identified 17 priority areas accompanied by action items that they believe will move South East Queensland closer towards the target of reducing drowning by 50 per cent by 2027.

New research showing 366 people had drowned in the past 10 years in South East Queensland, making it a drowning blackspot, prompted the Royal Life Saving to convene the forum.

Forum co-host, Royal Life Saving Society – Queensland Executive Director Paul Barry said this was the first time that all three layers of government have come together in Queensland with such a varied group of stakeholders to cover drowning prevention challenges across the important geographical region.

“This strategy will help guide collective policy and action to reduce the drowning toll and we invite anyone living in the region to provide their feedback,” Mr Barry said.

“Every person who drowns is a beloved family member, colleague, child or parent, and every drowning has tragic consequences for the whole community.

“Our hope is that individuals, governments, media organisations and community groups pick up this strategy and instead of working out who is responsible for what, work out what they can do to save lives and make a difference.”

Surf Life Saving Queensland Chief Executive Officer David Whimpey said the strategy provides a compelling call to action and strikes an appropriate balance between setting strategies for policy and practice.

“Surf Life Saving Queensland is supportive of empowering community members to be safe in, on and around the water and this strategy is in total alignment with our vision of zero preventable deaths in Queensland public waters,” Mr Whimpey said.

“We encourage stakeholders to take up this strategy, but also for community members to get involved in lifesaving.”

Forum co-host, City of Gold Coast’s Acting Branch Manager for Community Venues and Services Tim Goward said the Council’s aquatic facilities can play a meaningful role in reducing the drowning toll.

“Community pools are a great place for people to swim, and we believe our Council-owned facilities can play a positive role in implementing relevant parts of the strategy,” Mr Goward said.

“We would encourage everyone who comes in for a swim or enjoys any of the beautiful local waterways to share their thoughts on the draft strategy.

“The Council intends to review municipal water safety planning arrangements and seek to develop a local water safety plan which supports the achievement of the targets in the strategy.”

The draft water safety strategy is available for comment  below.

A digital feedback form has been developed and is available here:

View the Draft Strategy

Membership can now be renewed for the 2023-24 Financial year.

• Membership Application Form (new member)
  All new membership applications are subject to approval of the Board of Directors.
• Membership Renewal Form (existing member)
  If you are an existing member, please download a membership renewal form, complete the form and send it back to us.

Competency based trainers also need to complete a Profession Development Log (for Competency Based Trainers).

Royal Life Saving is pleased by the news that Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk MP has today launched a new lifesaving program, aimed at teaching Queensland kids how to swim.

SwimStart will provide greater access to swimming lessons for children aged 0 – 4 in a bid to improve water safety.

Eligible families will be able to apply for vouchers valued up to $150, amounting to a $4.8 million investment over two years from the Palaszczuk Government in the upcoming State Budget.

Royal Life Saving has been working with a range of industry partners and peak bodies to enhance swimming and survival skills of Queensland school children, and vouchers was discussed at the South East Queensland Water Safety Forum.

Read the Official Queensland Government Statement at the link below:

https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/97811#:~:text=SwimStart%20will%20provide%20greater%20access,in%20the%20upcoming%20State%20Budget

A new report on pool fencing legislation in Australia has found significant differences between states and territories, with fencing exemptions still applying to some pools despite the proven effectiveness of pool fences in reducing drowning deaths in young children.

The Royal Life Saving Society – Australia Review of Pool Fencing Legislation in Australia report examines the legislation in every Australia jurisdiction, finding that some still use old Australian Standards or have modified the Australian Standard.

Royal Life Saving Chief Executive Officer Justin Scarr said bringing all states and territories into alignment, and including regular inspections of all private swimming pools would save lives. “The evidence shows a 50 per cent reduction in drowning deaths in the 0-4 age group in the past 10 years, and pool fencing legislation has played a significant role in that reduction,” Mr Scarr said. “Bringing states and territories into alignment with their legislation would help reduce confusion about the rules that apply for fencing a backyard swimming pool. “One of the key things we’d like to see introduced across all jurisdictions is systematic approaches to regular inspections of pool fencing. “When we look at drowning in backyard pools there are four main ways children gain access: a faulty fence or gate; the absence of a fence; the gate being deliberately propped open; and the child climbing over the fence, often using pool furniture or pot plants next to the fence to gain a foothold.

“Regular inspections would make sure wear and tear issues affecting the functioning of the fence and gate are picked up before there is a tragedy. It would also provide the opportunity to remind pool owners about keeping the gates closed at all times and removing items that can be used to climb over the fence.

“For every child who dies in a drowning incident, an estimated eight more are hospitalised as a result of a non-fatal drowning incident, often being left with lifelong effects, including brain injuries. “While nothing takes the place of active supervision of young children to prevent drowning, we know distractions happen and a functioning pool fence and gate is an important way of keeping children safe when you are momentarily distracted.

“We urge all governments to work together to align the legislation to keep vulnerable young children safe from drowning.”

A new draft on the management of child safety in aquatic facilities was released this week by Royal Life Saving Society – Australia and the National Aquatic Industry Committee and is designed to help the aquatic industry understand and improve child safe practices.

The draft guideline provides owners and operators of aquatic facilities with practical guidance on how to interpret, apply and operationalise the 10 National Principles for Child Safe Organisations and the 11^th Victorian Principle relating to cultural safety for Aboriginal children and young people. The new guideline will be available for consultation to subscribers to the Guidelines for Safe Pool Operations (GSPO) for the next three months. Click below to access the feedback form along with the Guidelines in  the GSPO subscriber area.

CHILD SAFETY TRAINING MODULES

To support the aquatic industry in implementing the National Principles for Child Safety, Royal Life Saving last year developed and released two e-learning modules to make compliance easier. The modules are split into two stakeholder groups whose responsibilities differ: one targeted at frontline workers and the other at management level staff.

These are available through the Royal Life Saving Queensland training website www.lifesavingtraining.com.au/pd

Royal Life Saving Queensland is proud to share that recently a range of City of Gold Coast Aquatic Facilities were awarded Royal Life Saving’s Gold and Silver Pool Safety endorsements for 2023.

The City of Gold Coast facilities remain the only Queensland-based aquatic facilities to be recognised as achieving gold or silver status in safety within their aquatic facility operations.

The facilities endorsed under the program to achieve Gold status were:

– Upper Coomera Aquatic Centre
– Gold Coast Aquatic Centre
– Pimpama Sports Hub
– Miami Aquatic Centre

Facilities that achieved Silver status were:

– Helensvale Aquatic Centre
– Nerang Aquatic Centre
– Mudgeeraba Aquatic Centre

“It is pleasing to see that these centres have taken a proactive and industry leading approach in the provision of aquatic safety management at their venues.

These centres are some of the first in Queensland to achieve this very difficult rating and owners and operators have proactively been working hard over several years to ensure the venues achieve this rating.” – Paul Barry, Executive Director – Royal Life Saving Queensland.

You can read the full media release here.