Signs at ocean baths

The ever increasing barrage of signs at ocean baths  relates to the:
- opening times and entry charges at some supervised pools,
- supervision arrangements at the pool and when they operate,
- available facilities (e.g. facilities for persons with disabilities),
- water quality and pollution hazards,
- shared pool use (the times when part of the pool has been reserved for club, carnival or school use),
- pool cleaning and maintenance (notices about the times when the pool is closed or scheduled for cleaning),
- behaviour expected of pool users in and around the pool in the interest of safety and cleanliness (e.g. No Dogs, No fishing, No spearfishing, No fish cleaning, No smoking, No glass and in some cases restrictions on drinking of alcohol),
- First Aid and resuscitation signs (where to call for emergency help, locations of emergency buzzers and ambulance access, instructions on resuscitation methods),
- environmental protection concerns (such as a ban on collecting shellfish  or the boundaries of an intertidal protection area), and
- special risks at some pools (e.g. slippery rocks, or blue-ringed octopus in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and at Cronulla).

In today's multicultural Australia, there is a recognised need for uniform signage at all pool conforming with an accepted Australian standard. Australia has about four million overseas visitors annually and tourists made up nearly 25% of the annual deaths by drowning.

New water safety signs were designed to provide a uniform signage system for all Australia's beaches and rock pools were trialled in Victoria in 2002. Standards Australia expected most NSW beaches to have the new mandatory signs in place over the period form late 2002 to early 2003.

Signs alone are unlikely to convince anyone who underestimates the power of a rip that they would be safer swimming in the ocean baths than on the open beach. One of the problems with the barrage of signage at the ocean baths is that it makes those pools seem more dangerous than the open beach, when in fact they are a far safer swimming environment.

Neither the ocean pools nor the ocean beaches can offer a swimming environment as safe and controllable as a backyard swimming pool. Children accustomed to non-tidal pools may need to be taught about safety issues at ocean pools and other tidal pools just as they are taught about the need to swim between the flags at patrolled beaches and other beach safety issues.

Further Information

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