Where horizontal surfaces that could be used for climbing are permanently located near the inside of a pool barrier, and where any vertical spacing within the barrier is greater than 10mm, the Standards require the horizontal surface to be no closer than 300mm from the pool barrier. Although, the horizontal surface is withinthe pool enclosure, because the vertical spacing is greater than 10mm, it is considered a surface that a child’s hand or foot can access to facilitate climbing. As such, if the horizontal surface can not be relocated, the solution is to reduce the size of the vertical spacing in the pool barrier to be less than 10mm. As highlighted in the News and Projects section of this website in July 2023, one solution to this is to attach “Mouse & Snake Mesh” to the face of the pool barrier. The apertures in the mesh are 6.5mm x 6.5mm and as such are less than the required 10mm vertical spaces, which removes access to the horizontal surface. However, this is not easily achieved where the issue involves a glass barrier.
At a recent pool barrier inspection in Highton, there was a spa closer than 300mm and the distance between the upper surface of the Spa and the top of the glass barrier was less than 900mm. As such, the applicable clause identified the upper edge of the spa to be an accessible climbable surface. Because the glass was permanently secured to the spigots, it was not possible to adjust the vertical spacing between the glass pool barrier panels to close the vertical gaps to less than 10mm (noting that extreme care should be taken if moving glass pool barrier panels so as not to cause shattering of the glass panel). In this regard, the homeowner used a router to place channels in a section of timber which allowed the timber to slide between the sections of glass panel. It was then secured using silicone. This completely closed the gap between the glass panels and removed access to the upper surface of the spa which complied with the relevant clause of the Australian Standard for Swimming Pool Safety (in this case AS1926.1-2007).
