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Provincial Residential Swimming Pool Safety Regulation – For safer installations

In May, the Québec government announced new rules regarding swimming pool safety that will come into effect on July 1, 2021. These rules are designed to make the installations around residential swimming pools even safer.

Controlling access to the water

These amendments provide for increased safety of all installations around swimming pools. As of July 1, 2021, new swimming pools that are installed must respect the following provisions:

  • Chain-link fences with a mesh size of more than 30 mm must be battened.
  • Whirlpools (hot tubs) exceeding 2,000 litres are considered swimming pools and must comply with the same safety rules.
  • All diving boards acquired must comply with a new installation standard designed to reduce the risk of injury. The features of the BNQ-9461-100 standard are intended to make the use of diving boards in residential swimming pools safer.

July 1, 2023

The new rules under the Residential Swimming Pool Safety Regulation also put an end to the acquired rights for installations built before November 1, 2010, based on the safety recommendations of several coroners. The owners of these installations must now comply with the provincial regulation in effect and carry out the necessary work to ensure that their installations respect these new rules as of July 1, 2023.

Over the next few months, the City of Pointe-Claire will harmonize its regulations with these amendments. For full details on residential swimming pool safety, consult the website of the Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation.

For any questions regarding safe swimming pool installation, owners can contact the Planning Department at urbanisme@pointe-claire.ca, or at 514-630-1206.