Does my pool fence have to meet a standard?

A pool fence is the one fence with a law behind it. Get it wrong and it fails the safety inspection, so the certificate is held up. Here is the plain version of what the standard asks for.

The short answer

A pool barrier in Queensland has to meet AS 1926.1. The fence must be at least 1.2m high. Gaps have to stay under 100mm, including the gap under the fence. The gate has to swing away from the pool, close on its own, and latch on its own. There is also a non-climbable zone, so a child cannot use a rail as a foothold.

The rules that catch people out

• The gate. It must be self-closing and self-latching, with the latch out of a child's reach. Most fails are the gate, not the fence.
• The gaps. Under 100mm everywhere, including below the bottom rail and between glass panels.
• The climb zone. No horizontal rails or pot shelves on the outside that a child can climb.
• The boundary. If the pool fence doubles as a boundary fence, it has to meet both the pool rules and the dividing-fence rules.

A pool fence that looks fine can still fail on the gate or a single wide gap. We build to the standard from the start, so the inspection is a formality.

Where Postline makes it easy

We fit a lot of pool-compliant fencing on the Coast, in aluminium and in glass. We set the height, the gaps and the gate to AS 1926.1, and we tell you what the safety inspector will look for. You still book the certificate through a licensed pool safety inspector. We make sure there is nothing for them to pull you up on.

One more thing

This is general guidance, not a substitute for a pool safety inspection. The certificate is issued by a licensed inspector. Tell us it is a pool fence on the measure and we build it to pass.