FEHD to implement new measures from May 19 to strengthen regulation of life-saving attendants at private swimming pools
A spokesman for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) today (May 9) said that the department will implement a series of enhancement measures from May 19 to further prevent the employment of unqualified life-saving attendants at private swimming pools. The FEHD has issued letters to licensees of all private swimming pools in the territory, reminding them to support and comply with the new measures to safeguard the safety of swimming pool users.
The spokesman said, "Swimming pool licensees must comply with the Swimming Pools Regulation (Cap. 132CA) and the licensing conditions, which include ensuring that sufficient qualified life-saving attendants are on duty when the pool is open. The enhancement measures to be implemented aim to explicitly require swimming pool licensees to perform their responsibilities, while at the same time stepping up inspections and penalties, and enhancing collaboration with other departments and organisations."
In accordance with the penalty mechanism newly stipulated, if a licensee is found twice within a year to have insufficient qualified life-saving attendants on duty during the opening hours of the swimming pool, the FEHD will consider suspending its licence for six months and require the licensee to report the situation to relevant persons such as the Owners' Corporation. In case three violations are recorded within a year, the licence may be cancelled and the licensee or related persons shall not be allowed to apply for a swimming pool licence in respect of the same location within 12 months. The department will consider each case holistically when implementing the new measures, including whether the licensee has fulfilled the relevant licensing conditions diligently, and will allow the licensee to make representations according to the mechanism.
To ensure that licensees fulfil their responsibilities properly, the FEHD will explicitly require them through licensing conditions to verify the identity documents of life-saving attendants before employment, and to keep copies of their Pool Lifeguard Awards and personal logbooks on proper record. The FEHD has also established a standard template of life-saving attendants' duty records. Licensees are required to clearly record the relevant information of life-saving attendants on duty in accordance with the prescribed format, and the records have to be verified and signed by both the inspecting staff assigned by the licensees and the life-saving attendants. FEHD officers will check the relevant records as necessary during inspections or complaint investigations, and will follow up on any violations.
The FEHD will step up surprise inspections to private swimming pools. In addition to checking and verifying the qualifications of life-saving attendants on duty during monthly inspections, the frequency of spot checks during the peak swimming season in July and August will be increased. In case of insufficient qualified life-saving attendants on duty, the department will take immediate follow-up actions, including requiring the licensee to immediately close the swimming pool until sufficient qualified life-saving attendants can be present at the pool, and will issue a warning or institute prosecution against licensees.
The FEHD is pleased to learn that the Hong Kong China Life Saving Society is preparing to make the list of qualified life-saving attendants public. It believes that the implementation of this measure will assist swimming pool licensees more effectively in verifying the qualifications of life-saving attendants. Meanwhile, the FEHD has enhanced collaboration with the Property Management Services Authority, requiring property management companies to play a robust gatekeeping role for the procedures of recruiting life-saving attendants.
The spokesman said that the FEHD will continue to review the effectiveness of relevant measures to enhance the safety standards of licensed swimming pools. Members of the public are called on to take part in the monitoring and report suspected cases of irregularities to the department.
