Guidelines fo Safe Pool Operations (GSPO)

Under a variety of legal standards and frameworks, facility designers, owners and operators are charged with the responsibility of ensuring public and worker health and safety arising from the business and/or undertaking of aquatic facilities and their activities. For 30 years, Royal Life Saving has written the Guidelines for Safe Pool Operation (GSPO), which compiles and contextualises these standards and frameworks, making them easier to understand and apply to aquatic facilities.

The GSPO is the recognised national industry standard that describes and makes recommendations as to the appropriate minimum standards of safety that should be attached to the design, ownership and operations of aquatic facilities thereby providing a recognised standard of care in a particular area of design and/or operations.

Although published by Royal Life Saving, the GSPO represents the collective opinion of the aquatic industry across Australia, through an extensive and consultative development and review process undertaken by the National Aquatic Industry Committee (NAIC). As such, the GSPO is written and authorised for industry by industry - leveraging a formal network of collaborators both nationally and internationally.

All aquatic facility designers, owners and operators are strongly recommended to access and have an understanding of the GSPO in order to meet their obligations under the respective state and/or territory health and safety legislation.

Subscribing to the GSPO

All GSPO subscriptions are valid for a 12-month basis beginning on the 1st of July and finishing on the 30th of June the following year.

All subscriptions to the GSPO incur an associated fee. Subscriptions are available on a per facility basis per financial year. Subscribers with multiple facilities are able to receive a discount.

During the subscription process, subscribers’ business and personal details will be recorded by RLSSA in the relevant database. All personal details will be kept confidential as outlined in the Privacy Policy on the website. Personal details provided to RLSSA will not be released to any other organisation without the written permission of the individual concerned, unless required to do so by law. Business details will remain de-identified however may be used in generalised and broad terms for the purposes State of Industry reporting.

​Subscriptions are AU$99* per year (inc.GST) for individual aquatic facilities.

*Persons or entities who subscribe multiple facilities are able to access a Management Subscription discount.

For subscribers with more than 10 facilties or users, a formalised Management Subscription service is available to organisations who are either managing multiple aquatic facilities or are a member-based association whose membership includes aquatic facilities.

Should a subscriber change their personal / organisational details between their initial subscription and renewal period, subscribers are can contact us to advise of the change so that RLSSA can maintain communication with the subscriber.

RLSSA will notify all subscribers annually of the need for subscribers to renew their subscription.