Water Safety New Zealand is supporting a coroner’s recommendation to ban the sale of portable pools under 1.2m without gated access, following a report into the drowning of eight children.
In the summer of 2021-2022, eight children, the youngest just 9 months, died as a result of drowning. Two of the deaths occurred in portable pools 1.2m and under, at least four of the children were Māori.
The findings, released by coroner Michael Robb, highlight the dangers of small, unfenced pools, prompting calls for stronger safety measures.
Water Safety NZ General Manager Gavin Walker says the loss of any child to drowning is devastating, but eight deaths in a single summer should be a wake-up call.
“We appreciate the coroner’s thorough investigation and their efforts to ensure lessons are learned from these tragedies,” Walker said.
“The loss of any child is a huge issue for us here in New Zealand. But the loss of 8 young New Zealanders to drowning in one summer period is a real wake-up call.”
Call for Stronger Pool Safety Legislation
One of the key recommendations from the coroner’s report is to introduce legislation requiring portable pools over 1.2 metres to be sold with a child safety barrier—or not at all.
Under the current Building Act 2004, all residential pools with a depth of 40cm or more must have a physical barrier to prevent unsupervised access by children under five.
Walker says, Water Safe supports the recommendation to ban the sale of portable pools without sufficient safeguards.
“There is clear evidence that no matter how vigilant we think we are, children can still access pools unsupervised—often with tragic consequences,” he said.
“These are pools that are up to a meter or so deep that are set up in people’s backyards, and we don’t want to get back to the situation in New Zealand where 8 Kiwi kids lose their lives each year because of these situations,”
What about online retailers like Temu?
Retail NZ has weighed in on the issue, acknowledging the importance of consumer safety but pointing out its limited influence over international retailers like Temu.
CEO Carolyn Young says regulating the sale of portable pools would be difficult for those buying online.
“So, if regulations were being put in place how would they apply? Be applicable to people purchasing things online? So, you’d really need to find a way that the government and the commerce commission would respond to that.”
Young also said NZ retailers understand the importance of safety for children.
“There’d be a bit of work to do to get from a Coroner’s recommendation to having regulations and restrictions around having pools not being sold.”
“Retailers are really cognisant around the importance of water safety, and always cognisant of young ones that are there and when things can happen just at a moment’s notice.
In his report, the coroner acknowledged the difficulty in regulating the market.
“I understand that the short answer from the helpful advice from MBIE [Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment] is that it would be a complicated process to ban small temporary pools from sale.
“However, from a coroners Court perspective, despite being difficult I maintain my recommendation for the banning of those pools in order to prevent avoidable deaths of young children.”
