Investigation into ways to prevent or reduce deaths of children by drowning
5 Private swimming pools in Western Australia
Where location was known, private swimming pools were the most common location of fatal and non-fatal drowning incidents during the six-year investigation period.146 As discussed in Chapter 4, the Office found that, for 16 (47 per cent) of the 34 children who died by drowning, the fatal drowning incident occurred in a private swimming pool. Similarly, for 170 (66 per cent) of the 258 children who were admitted to a hospital following a non-fatal drowning incident, the incident occurred in a swimming pool. Accordingly, the Ombudsman determined to examine private swimming pools in Western Australia in more detail.
5.1 Number of private swimming pools
The Office was unable to identify any source with recent information about the total number and location of private swimming pools in Western Australia, therefore, as part of the Investigation, the Office collected and analysed this information.
The Office surveyed local governments regarding the number of private swimming pools in their local government district as at 30 June 2015 (the local government survey). Of the 140 local governments that were surveyed,147 138 (99 per cent) local governments responded to the survey (the 138 survey respondents) and two (one per cent) local governments did not respond to the survey. The two local governments that did not respond were small local governments located outside the metropolitan regions of Western Australia.
Section 130 of the Building Act 2011 requires local governments to keep building records associated with private swimming pools (such as applications for building permits and inspections) located in their local government district to enable monitoring of compliance with Part 8, Division 2 of the Building Regulations 2012. This requirement is discussed in more detail in Chapters 6 and 9.
Of the 138 survey respondents:
• one hundred and thirty five local governments provided information about the number of private swimming pools in their district; and • three local governments responded that they did not know the number of private swimming pools in their district.
As at 30 June 2015, the 138 survey respondents reported that they had recorded a total of 144,899 private swimming pools. The number of private swimming pools recorded (recorded private swimming pools) by each local government is provided at Appendix 1.
146 As identified at section 3.3.1, in this report, the term private swimming pool is used to refer to a private swimming pool and a private spa. 147 At the time of the Investigation, there were 138 local governments in Western Australia and two local governments located in the Commonwealth territories of Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands that were also included in the survey. The Shire of Narrogin and the Town of Narrogin have merged to form a new and expanded Shire of Narrogin which took effect as of 1 July 2016.
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5.2 Geographical distribution of recorded private swimming pools
The Office analysed the information about recorded private swimming pools provided by local governments, by region, applying the categorisation of ‘Metropolitan’ and ‘Other regions’ defined in Schedules 3, 4 and 5 of the Planning and Development Act 2005. In this Chapter and throughout this report, those regions defined as ‘Other regions’ in Schedule 4 of the Planning and Development Act 2005 are also referred to as non-metropolitan regions and include the Gascoyne Region, Goldfields-Esperance Region, Great Southern Region, Kimberley Region, Mid-West Region, Peel Region, Pilbara Region, South West Region and Wheatbelt Region. The Office has separately identified Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands (and in this report, these islands are referred to as the Christmas/Cocos (Keeling) Islands).
The Office found that, of the 144,899 private swimming pools recorded by the 138 survey respondents:
• 119,633 private swimming pools (83 per cent) were recorded by the 30 metropolitan local governments; and • 25,266 private swimming pools (17 per cent) were recorded by the 108 non-metropolitan local governments.
Further details are provided in Figure 32 and Figure 33.
For comparison, in Western Australia, as at 30 June 2015, 75 per cent of the population lived in metropolitan local government districts and 25 per cent lived in non-metropolitan local government districts.148
Figure 32 shows the 10 metropolitan local governments that reported the highest numbers of recorded private swimming pools. Of particular note, the City of Joondalup recorded twice as many private swimming pools as the local government district with the second highest number of recorded private swimming pools (City of Stirling).
148 Derived by the Office from the Western Australian Local Government Association, The Western Australian Local Government Directory 2016, Western Australian Local Government Association, West Leederville, 2016.
86 Ombudsman Western Australia Investigation into ways to prevent or reduce deaths of children by drowning
Figure 32: Metropolitan local governments that reported the highest number of recorded private swimming pools 25,000 21,552
20,000
15,000
10,499 10,006 9,640 10,000 8,652 7,278 6,688 6,290 6,186 4,794 5,000 Number of recorded recorded of Number
private swimming pools swimming private - City City of Stirling City Melville of City City Canning of City City Gosnells of City City Cockburn of City Armadale of City City Wanneroo of City City Joondalup of City City Rockingham of City Shire of Kalamunda of Shire Local government Source: Ombudsman Western Australia
Figure 33 shows the 10 non-metropolitan local governments that reported the highest number of recorded private swimming pools.
Figure 33: Non-metropolitan local governments that reported the highest number of recorded private swimming pools 5,000
4,423 4,500 4,000 3,500 3,000 2,341 2,500 1,747 1,658 2,000 1,475 1,446 1,412 1,250 1,185 1,500 922 1,000 500 Number recorded of Number - private swmiming pools swmiming private Geraldton Boulder Shire of Capel of Shire City City of Greater Shire of Murray of Shire City Bunbury of City Shire of Harvey of Shire City City of Karratha Shire of Broome of Shire City Busselton of City City Mandurah of City City Kalgoorlie- of City Local government
Source: Ombudsman Western Australia
Of the 108 non-metropolitan local governments, 35 reported having fewer than 10 recorded private swimming pools, with 11 of these local governments reporting that they had no recorded private swimming pools within their district.
Ombudsman Western Australia 87 Investigation into ways to prevent or reduce deaths of children by drowning
5.3 Density of recorded private swimming pools
The Office analysed the percentage and number of private swimming pools by region. The Office’s findings are shown in Figure 34 below.
Figure 34: Percentage of swimming pools recorded with local governments in each region of Western Australia 2% 0% 0% 2% Christmas/Cocos (Keeling) Islands 0% 1% (4 swimming pools) 2% Gascoyne (247 swimming pools) 4% 2% 4% Goldfields-Esperance (2,537 swimming pools) Great Southern (455 swimming pools) Kimberley (1,812 swimming pools)
Metropolitan (119,633 swimming pools) Mid West (2,191 swimming pools)
Peel (5,809 swimming pools)
Pilbara (3,425 swimming pools) 83% South West (6,527 swimming pools) Wheatbelt (2,259 swimming pools)
Source: Ombudsman Western Australia
The Office found that the number of people per recorded private swimming pool in each region ranged from:
• one private swimming pool per 16.1 people in the metropolitan region; to • one private swimming pool per 132.2 people in the Great Southern region; to • one private swimming pool per 518.0 people in the Christmas/Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Figure 35).
The number of dwellings per recorded private swimming pool in each region also ranged from:
• one private swimming pool per 6.0 dwellings in the Pilbara region; to • one private swimming pool per 62.1 dwellings in the Great Southern region; to • one private swimming pool per 221.5 dwellings in the Christmas/Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Figure 35).
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Figure 35: Number of people, dwellings and area, per recorded private swimming pool, by region Regions Number of Number of Area (square people per dwellings per kilometre) per recorded private recorded private recorded private swimming pool swimming pool swimming pool Christmas/Cocos (Keeling) 518.0 221.5 37.3 Islands Gascoyne 43.4 17.4 529.8 Goldfields-Esperance 24.1 10.1 307.0 Great Southern 132.2 62.1 89.9 Kimberley 19.8 9.5 242.1 Metropolitan 16.1 6.2 <0.01 Mid-West 26.6 11.3 218.7 Peel 18.2 8.3 0.8 Pilbara 19.9 6.0 147.3 South West 26.0 11.4 3.7 Wheatbelt 33.0 17.6 149.6 149 Source: Ombudsman Western Australia and Western Australian Local Government Association
5.4 Fatal and non-fatal drowning incidents in each local government district
The Office analysed deaths by drowning, admission to a hospital, and attendance at an emergency department at a hospital using the number of recorded private swimming pools located in each local government district and the population of children residing in each local government district.
In considering the analysis set out below, it is important to note that the results are descriptive in nature only; the Office has not made any finding that any of the local government districts named could have prevented any of the recorded drowning incidents and there is no implication to be drawn from the presentation of descriptive analysis below that they could have done so.
5.4.1 Number of children who died by drowning in a private swimming pool, by number of recorded private swimming pools and child population in each local government district
The Office found that 16 of the 34 children who died by drowning did so following an incident in a private swimming pool. The Office analysed the number of children who died by drowning following an incident in a private swimming pool by the local government district of the child’s residence and the local government district of the location of the fatal drowning incident. This analysis also considered the number of recorded private swimming pools located in each local government district and the population of children residing in each local government district. The Office’s findings are set out in Figure 36.
149 Western Australian Local Government Association, The Western Australian Local Government Directory 2016, Western Australian Local Government Association, West Leederville, 2016.
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Figure 36: Number of children who died by drowning in a private swimming pool, by local government of the location of the fatal drowning incident and number of recorded private swimming pools, by child population
Town of Bassendean (767) 1
City of Canning (6,186) 1
Shire of Harvey (1,475) 1
City of Joondalup (21,552) 2 The (then) Shire of Kalamunda (6,290) 1 City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder (2,341) 1
Shire of Mundaring (3,450) 1
Local government Local Town of Narrogin (134) 1
City of Rockingham (8,652) 2
City of Stirling (10,499) 2 (number of recorded private swimming pools) swimming private recorded of (number City of Wanneroo (10,006) 3
0 1 Number of children 2 3 Child population of 1,000-9,999 Child population of 10,000 +
Source: Ombudsman Western Australia
5.4.2 Number of children who were admitted to a hospital following a non-fatal drowning incident in a swimming pool, by number of recorded private swimming pools and child population in each local government district
The Office found that, of the 258 children who were admitted to a hospital following a non-fatal drowning incident, 170 (66 per cent) were admitted following an incident in a swimming pool.150
The Office analysed the number of children who were admitted to a hospital following a non-fatal drowning incident in a swimming pool by the local government district of the child’s residence (for these children, information regarding the location of the non-fatal drowning incident was unavailable). This analysis also considered the number of recorded private swimming pools located in each local government district and the population of children residing in each local government district. The Office’s findings are set out in Figure 37.
150 WA Health did not routinely record if a swimming pool was a private or public swimming pool.
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Figure 37: Number of children admitted to a hospital following a non-fatal drowning incident in a swimming pool, by local government of child’s residence and number of recorded private swimming pools, by child population
City of Albany (155) 1 City of Armadale (4794) 3 Town of Bassendean (767) 2 City of Bayswater (2593) 2 City of Belmont (1177) 3 City of Busselton (1250) 2 Town of Cambridge (3103) 2 City of Canning (6186) 5 City of Cockburn (6688) 4 City of Fremantle (190) 1 City of Gosnells (7278) 10 City of Greater Geraldton (1747) 3 City of Joondalup (21552) 9 City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder (2341) 3 City of Karratha (1658) 3 City of Kwinana (1645) 6 City of Mandurah (4423) 3 City of Melville (9640) 4 Town of Port Hedland (866) 1 City of Rockingham (8652) 15 City of South Perth (2157) 2 City of Stirling (10499) 8 City of Subiaco (706) 1 City of Swan (3773) 16 City of Wanneroo (10006) 13 Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes (41) 1 Shire of Broome (1446) 1 Shire of Chapman Valley (94) 1 Shire of Dardanup (727) 1 Shire of Derby-West Kimberley (106) 3
Local government government Local Shire of East Pilbara (373) 2 Shire of Esperance (107) 1 Shire of Exmouth (87) 1 Shire of Harvey (1475) 6 The (then) Shire of Kalamunda (6290) 6 Shire of Katanning (116) 1
(number of recorded private pools) swimming private recorded of (number Shire of Kellerberrin (23) 1 Shire of Kojonup (86) 1 Shire of Leonora (6) 1 Shire of Meekathara (0) 1 Shire of Mingenew (0) 1 Shire of Moora (104) 1 Shire of Mundaring (3450) 2 Shire of Murray (1185) 2 Shire of Peppermint Grove (262) 1 Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale (1681) 1 Shire of Toodyay (72) 1 Shire of Wiluna (1) 1 Shire of York (162) 1 Other 9 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Number of children Child population unknown Child population of 0-999 Child population of 1,000-9,999 Child population of 10,000 +
Source: Ombudsman Western Australia Note: ‘Other’ includes nine children who did not reside in Western Australia or for whom the local government district of the child’s residence could not be determined.
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5.4.3 Number of children who attended an emergency department at a hospital following a non-fatal drowning incident in all locations, by local government of the child’s residence
The Office found that 2,310 children attended an emergency department at a hospital following a non-fatal drowning incident in all locations. For these children, information regarding the location of the non-fatal drowning incident was unavailable. However, for completeness, the Office analysed the number of children who attended an emergency department at a hospital following a non-fatal drowning incident in all locations by the local government district of the child’s residence. This analysis also considered the number of recorded private swimming pools located in each local government district and the population of children residing in each local government district. The Office’s findings are set out in Figure 38.
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Figure 38: Number of children who attended an emergency department at a hospital following a non-fatal drowning incident in all locations, by local government of child’s residence and number of recorded private swimming pools, by child population
City of Albany (155) 9 City of Armadale (4794) 67 Shire of Augusta-Margaret River (116) 3 Town of Bassendean (767) 24 City of Bayswater (2593) 41 City of Belmont (1177) 65 Shire of Boddington (53) 1 Shire of Boyup Brook (13) 1 Shire of Broome (1446) 3 Shire of Bruce Rock (6) 1 City of Bunbury (1412) 11 City of Busselton (1250) 10 Town of Cambridge (3103) 34 City of Canning (6186) 86 Shire of Capel (922) 8 Shire of Carnarvon (152) 2 Shire of Chittering (389) 7 Shire of Christmas Island (2) Town of Claremont (733) 11 City of Cockburn (6688) 84 Shire of Collie (318) 1 Town of Cottesloe (612) 14 Shire of Cranbrook (13) 2 Shire of Dandaragan (u) 1 Shire of Dardanup (727) 6 Shire of Denmark (25) 1 Shire of Derby-West Kimberley (106) government Local 4 Shire of Dowerin (8) 2 Shire of East Pilbara (373) 2 Shire of Esperance (107) 1 Shire of Exmouth (87) 1 City of Fremantle (190) 14 pools) swimming private recorded of (number Shire of Gingin (241) 2 Shire of Gnowangerup (11) 1 Shire of Goomalling (13) 1 City of Gosnells (7278) 118 City of Greater Geraldton (1747) 4 Shire of Halls Creek (0) 1 Shire of Harvey (1475) 14 City of Joondalup (21552) 142 The (then) Shire of Kalamunda (6290) 62 City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder (2341) 7 City of Karratha (1658) 4 Shire of Katanning (116) 2 Shire of Kojonup (86) 2 City of Kwinana (1645) 37 City of Mandurah (4423) 35 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 Number of children
Child population of 0-999 Child population of 1,000-9,999 Child population of 10,000 +
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Shire of Manjimup (57) 1 City of Melville (9640) 74 Shire of Merredin (104) 2 Shire of Mingenew (0) 1 Shire of Moora (104) 2 Town of Mosman Park (746) 8 Shire of Mount Magnet (0) 2 Shire of Mundaring (3450) 26 Shire of Murray (1185) 7 Town of Narrogin (134) 1 City of Nedlands (2590) 9 Shire of Northam (500) 11 Shire of Northampton (124) 1 Shire of Nungarin (0) 1 Shire of Peppermint Grove (262) 1
City of Perth (81) 6 Town of Port Hedland (866) 3 Shire of Ravensthorpe (0) 2 City of Rockingham (8652) 109 Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale (1681) 16 City of South Perth (2157) 45 Local government Local City of Stirling (10499) 275 City of Swan (3773) 138 Shire of Three Springs (8) 1 Shire of Toodyay (72) 3
pools) swimming of private (number recorded Shire of Trayning (2) 1 Town of Victoria Park (697) 48 City of Vincent (559) 28 Shire of Wagin (71) 2 City of Wanneroo (10006) 178 Shire of Waroona (148) 4 Shire of Williams (9) 1 Shire of Wiluna (1) 1 Shire of Wongan-Ballidu (24) 2 Shire of Yilgarn (27) 1 Shire of York (162) 1 38 Other 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Number of children Child population unknown Child population of 0-999
Child population of 1,000-9,999 Child population of 10,000 +
Source: Ombudsman Western Australia Note: ‘Other’ includes 38 children who did not reside in Western Australia or the local government district of the child’s residence could not be determined.
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