Does your pool meet safety standards? You have until September 30 to make sure!

Anyone owning a pool that can hold 60 cm of water, whether in-ground, semi-in-ground, above-ground or inflatable, as well as owners of a spa 2000 liters or more, have until September 30 to ensure that their installation complies with current safety standards.

Provincial regulations cover a number of areas. Municipalities are responsible for enforcing these regulations. The Ville de Saint-Lambert has included swimming pools in its Zoning By-law 2024-215 (section 5.7.6). This by-law is in addition to provincial standards, and includes additional details. You must therefore ensure that your installation complies with both sets of regulations.

Main requirements

All fence models are authorized by the municipality, provided they meet the following requirements:

• Be fixed and have no removable sections (see details below);
• Prevent the passage of a spherical object 10 cm in diameter;
• Be at least 1.2 m high;
• Have no fasteners, projections or openwork that could facilitate climbing;
• Include a door equipped with a passive safety device that closes and locks automatically.

To help you assess the compliance of your pool or spa, the Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l'Habitation has created several self-assessment forms. You can click on this link to access the various forms online: self-evaluation form.

A brief history of regulatory developments

Alarming data on the increasing number of drownings in residential pools since the early 2000s and recommendations issued by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec in 2006 led the provincial government to legislate on pool safety.

In 2007, the Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act was passed. This act allowed the government to establish uniform safety standards throughout Quebec by regulation. The municipalities are responsible for enforcing these standards.

The Residential Swimming Pool Safety Regulation came into effect in July 2010. At that time, existing pool owners were granted grandfathering rights, meaning that they were not required to comply with the new regulations.

However, drowning statistics did not decline sufficiently, prompting several coroners to recommend that the government remove these grandfathering rights and require all owners to comply with the regulations.

Following the recommendations made by investigators, regulatory changes were made and came into effect in July 2021.

Owners are now subject to the 2021 regulations.

The September 30 deadline means that, as of that date, owners whose residential pools are not compliant could be fined by the municipality.