SCOPE

This guideline applies to all aquatic facilities where diving activities occur. It sets minimum standards for pool design, supervision, and safety requirements to prevent accidents and injuries.

This guideline does not cover scuba diving, nor does it provide guidance for the sport of diving (except for dive tower and springboard design safety).

All persons who wish to participate in swimming or like (e.g. Lifesaving) competitions should be instructed in the principles of safe water entry and diving techniques, and competitive dive starts in a progressive education program under the instruction of an appropriately qualified Coach or Instructor.

All participants in swimming or like competition should receive appropriate instruction prior to participating in any swimming or like competitions.

This guideline contains information relating to the management of activities occurring at aquatic facilities, further guidance relating to the design of aquatic facilities is contained in the Guidelines for Safe Pool Operations - Swimming Pool Design

In this GSPO, the following terms are used:

• must – indicates a legal requirement that businesses must comply with
• should – indicates a recommendation
• may – indicates a choice
• can – indicates a possibility or a capability

These Guidelines do not provide recommendations or guidance regarding on-the-job training, onboarding, skills maintenance, competency assessment, health or fitness requirements or ongoing  licensing and re-accreditation requirements. These are covered in other RLSSA Guidelines and/or other  industry guidance. The summary table attempts to summarise the arrangements across a range of  other guidance and is not exhaustive. Employers should ensure that they understand in full the  industry and legislative guidance for particular aquatic industry roles.

LIMITATIONS

The content of the GSPO is general in nature only and do not constitute professional or legal advice. You and your organisation should seek your own legal advice in relation to any legal or professional matter that you or your organisation may have.

GUIDELINE CONTENT

RLSSA ACCEPTANCE AND RELEASE NOTICE

This document is a managed document. For identification of amendments, each document contains an issue date, number and a page number. Changes will only be issued as a complete replacement document. Recipients should remove superseded versions from circulation.

Authorisation:

Amendments in this release:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

In the spirit of reconciliation, Royal Life Saving Society Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises their continued connection to land, waters and communities. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures; Elders past, present and emerging.

COPYRIGHT

© 2023 Royal Life Saving Society – Australia

This publication is copyright. Except as expressly provided in the Copyright Act 1968 and the Copyright Amendment Act 2006, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted by any means (including electronic, mechanical, micro copying, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior permission from Royal Life Saving Society – Australia. For enquiries concerning reproduction, contact RLSSA on: Phone 02 8217 3111; Email: info@rlssa.org.au

Every attempt has been made to trace and acknowledge copyright, but in some cases this may not have been possible. Royal Life Saving apologises for any accidental infringements and would welcome any information to redress the situation.

Please contact:

Royal Life Saving Society – Australia

PO Box 558 Broadway

NSW 2007 Australia

Phone: 02 8217 3111              Email: info@rlssa.org.au