The Guidelines for Safe Pool Operations (GSPO) has undergone a major evolution in terms of how subscribers’ access and interact with the Guidelines.
Subscriber experience
Royal Life Saving has launched an upgraded and updated GSPO online portal. The goal is to make the guidelines more user-friendly and to ensure it is easy to find critical information within the guidelines.
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 GSPO, which compiles and contextualises these standards and frameworks, making them easier to understand and apply to aquatic facilities.
This latest iteration, although not a change to the content of the guidelines, will make accessing key information easier than ever. It will allow users to search the guidelines based on keywords to find references to requirements from across multiple guidelines.
Image 1: new look and feel of the GSPO
Existing individual subscribers
Existing subscribers will have their accounts automatically rolled into the new hub.
There are two categories of existing users:
- Subscribers expiring between 01/07/2021 and 30/12/2021 will have their subscriptions migrated into the new system and their existing expiry date for their subscription will be honoured. When their access expires, they will be able to resubscribe on a financial year basis via the website.
- Subscribers expiring after 01/01/2022 will automatically be subscribed until 30/06/2022 and will need to re-subscribe in the new financial year.
Note: All existing users will need to reset their passwords. For security and privacy reasons, passwords have not been exported and will be required to be reset by individual subscribers.
To recover or reset their password, they should head to:
https://www.royallifesaving.com.au/member-management/reset-password
Management agreements / subscribers
If an organisation has a number of separate accounts that they would like to group together onto a single corporate account and access group discounts, contact customer support on:
aquatics@rlssa.org.au
Accessing the GSPO
There will be no increase in price for GSPO subscribers in 2021-22. We have also introduced progressive pricing plans for subscribers with multiple workplaces, members or users. The new process will allow subscribers to easily register up to 10 facilities or users to a subscription with the option to pay by credit card or invoice.
For subscribers with more than 10 facilities 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. This means for the first time; member associations will be able to provide access to the GSPO as part of their member services.
Please Royal Life Saving for more information on Management Subscriptions.
Subscribe now to the guidelines
To subscribe head to:
https://www.royallifesaving.com.au/Aquatic-Risk-and-Guidelines/guidelines/GSPO
Additional resources
In addition to the Guidelines, an extensive library of templates, forms and key business management documents are available in the GSPO portal that may assist aquatic facility operators in running their businesses efficiently and effectively.
Image 2: Snip of resource library
Key changes
It is important to note that there are some key changes to the way that users will interact with the GSPO and how their subscription will be managed.
- Subscriptions will now run by financial year from July-June each year.
- Subscribers will be contacted by email each July to renew their subscription.
For more information and/or responses to Frequently Asked Question head to:
https://www.royallifesaving.com.au/Aquatic-Risk-and-Guidelines/guidelines/Subscribe-and-Login-for-Guidelines
FAQ
Q: I recently subscribed to the GSPO – will my access give me access to the new portal?
A: Yes, all users who have subscribed to the GSPO will be automatically transferred to thew new GSPO portal. Your existing login details should stay the same, but you may need to reset your password.
Q: If I wait until December to renew, will my subscription be pro-rated?
A: No, subscription is a flat fee for the financial year. We want to encourage regular access and checking of safety information; therefore, no discounts will apply for waiting longer to access the GSPO.
Q: I took out a subscription in November, will I have access until November?
A: Yes, existing expiration periods will be honoured through to their expiry. You will have access until your expiry date, after which point, you will need to transition to the financial year model, which will attract a flat fee for the financial year. For example, if your subscription expires on 1/11/21 you will need to take out a new subscription from 2/11/21 and this will be active until 30/6/2022. For information on pricing see the FAQ section. No pro-rata or discounts will apply. Please note that Royal Life Saving has kept the same low fee for many years ensuring all Australian aquatic facilities have affordable access to key safety information.
Q: Printed copies
A: The Guidelines will continue to be available online-only but can be printed by the user if you still want a hard copy. Royal Life Saving will not be retailing printed versions of the GSPO as changes are made as required by the National Aquatic Industry Committee. These changes will be reflected immediately in the GSPO online.
