Shire of Donnybrook-Balingup among top 10 regional WA areas for overdue pool barrier safety inspections

A South West council has made the list of top 10 regional local government areas that have fallen behind in private pool barrier safety inspections.

A State Government report found more than half of WA local governments (57 per cent) were keeping their heads above the water with inspections of private safety pool barriers, however, the figure was down on 67.5 in 2018-19.

Shire of Donnybrook-Balingup ranked sixth on the list of regional areas with the highest percentage of overdue inspections, falling behind on 25 per cent of checks for the 184 pools in the shire.

On average each year in Australia, 15 children under the age of five drown in private swimming pools, according to Royal Life Saving Australia.

Under WA laws, all private swimming pools, spas and portable pools with water more than 30cm deep must have a barrier that complies with the law and restricts the access of vulnerable youngsters.

Local governments are required to conduct safety compliance inspections at least every four years.

The latest Building and Energy progress report revealed that at June 30, there were 2673 overdue inspections across WA.

This includes 25.3 per cent of pools in Waroona, 3.4 per cent in Bunbury, 0.3 per cent in Collie and 0.1 per cent in Busselton.

Meanwhile, the shires of Augusta-Margaret River, Bridgetown-Greenbushes, Boyup Brook, Capel, Dardanup, Harvey, Manjimup and Nannup recorded no overdue inspections.