Scope

This Guideline provides practical guidance for owners or operators of an aquatic facilities on how to manage the risks within an aquatic environment as it applies to COVID-19.

This National Industry Guideline applies to all Hotels, Motels, Camping and Caravan Grounds, Commercial and Public Aquatic Facilities, Learn to Swim Schools, and Body Corporate who own or manage an aquatic facility for the purpose of swimming or recreation such as a pool or waterslide. It may be used for Public Waterways such as Rivers, Creeks, and Streams.

This Guideline has been developed by Royal Life Saving Society Australia under the National Aquatic Industry Committee for adoption by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments and owners and operators of aquatic facilities.

Published by Royal Life Saving Australia, this document reflects the collective opinion of the national aquatic industry in contextualising expert guidance from the Australian Department of Health, Safe Work Australia (and State and Territory regulators), Fair Work Australia and other reputable sources - to Australian aquatic facilities.

The Guideline is designed and intended to provide general information only in summary form and is current at the time of publication. The contents do not constitute legal or professional advice and are not intended to be a substitute for legal or other professional advice and should not be relied upon as such. Aquatic facility owners and operators should check local State  / Territory public health orders and ensure compliance with relevant State / Territory laws and policy. These Guidelines are intended to support local State / Territory public health guidance, not to supercede it.

You should seek your own legal advice or other professional advice in relation to any matter you or your organisation may have.

Document Objective

RLSSA continues to closely monitor the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and is working closely with the Aquatic Industry, Government and health authorities to support measures to protect the community while ensuring that aquatic facilities can provide the many social, health and economic benefits afforded by the industry to the Australian community.

The document focuses on ways aquatic facility owners/operators can manage and reduce risk with regards to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

About COVID-19

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that is caused by a newly discovered form of coronavirus.

COVID-19 is a respiratory infection that was unknown before the outbreak that started in Hubei Province, China, in December 2019. Other known forms of coronaviruses include Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

What are the symptoms of COVID-19?

Symptoms of COVID-19 can range from mild illness to pneumonia (and other serious complications which may lead to death). Some people will recover easily, and others may get very sick very quickly.

The common symptoms of COVID-19 may include:

• fever
• coughing
• sore throat
• loss of the sensations of taste and smell
• fatigue (tiredness), and
• difficulty breathing or shortness of breath.

How is COVID-19 spread?

• The most likely way someone will catch the virus is by breathing in micro-droplets or very small particles that contain the virus.
• A person can, however, also catch it via the hand-to-face pathway: touching a surface where live virus material is present, then touching their mouth, nose or eyes
• Spread of COVID-19 is highest from people with symptoms
• Spread of COVID-19 before symptoms appear is less common because people who are not displaying symptoms will generally have a lower viral load.  However, asymptomatic spread is the most challenging aspect of managing Covid 19, because people who are not displaying symptoms (including symptoms which can be detected, such as an increased temperature) are nonetheless able to transmit the virus.

Virus variants of concern (Delta & others)

• The Delta variant causes more infections and spreads faster than earlier forms of the virus that causes COVID-19. It might cause more severe illness than previous strains in unvaccinated people.
• Vaccines continue to reduce a person’s risk of contracting the virus that cause COVID-19, including new variants including the Delta variant.
• The period in which vaccine effectiveness is highest begins approximately two weeks after the second dose of vaccine (regardless of the variety of vaccine).  Research is currently being undertaken into whether a third dose (sometimes referred to as a “booster” dose) of vaccine will be beneficial.
• Vaccines continue to be highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death, including against the Delta variant.
• Fully vaccinated people with breakthrough infections from the Delta variant appear to be infectious for a shorter period and symptoms generally less severe.
• Getting vaccinated and wearing masks indoors in public spaces reduces the spread of the Delta variant according to public health advice. The risk factors for transmission of the Delta variant are sometimes referred to as the “3Cs”:
  • Confined spaces with poor ventilation
  • Crowded places with many people nearby
  • Close contact settings (such as close-range conversations
• The risk of transmission is particularly high when two or more of the 3Cs overlap

Impact of the pandemic

The aquatic industry has been significantly impacted by lockdown closures associated with COVID-19. As one of the first industries to close and last to re-open each time, an estimated 2,113 aquatic facilities were forced into closure at some point throughout 2020 causing a high proportion of the workforce (estimated at 67,000), particularly frontline workers, to be stood down. When able to reopen, the aquatic industry’s recovery has been hampered by worker shortages. Across the country, when swim schools reopened, enrolments in learn to swim classes reported falls of up to -25% from the previous year. This places a significant burden on Australia to ensure COVID-19 does not result in a generation of non-swimmers.

Despite the adverse effects of the pandemic, the aquatic industry is uniquely positioned to provide an important resource in the nation’s recovery due to its $9.1 billion in social, health and economic benefits to Australians.

Royal Life Saving and PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia have prepared a report on the Social, Health and Economic Value of the Australian National Aquatic Industry available here: https://www.royallifesaving.com.au/Aquatic-Risk-and-Guidelines/aquatic-research/the-social,-health-and-economic-value-of-the-australian-national-aquatic-industry-report

As Australia transitions to ‘living with COVID’ workplaces must find a ‘new normal’ and must continue implementing measures to reduce the spread of the virus, respond to the re-emergence of cases and to play their part in preventing health systems from being overwhelmed and preventing unnecessary deaths.

COVID-19 is a public health matter, which means the risks associated with COVID-19 in the workplace must be managed in accordance with public health laws (and generally applicable work health and safety legislation) in the State or Territory where the business is located. Depending on the State or Territory, there may be a number of public health laws that determine what businesses can and cannot do during this pandemic, including whether they need to prepare a COVIDSafe plan. Everyone must always follow the rules that apply in their State or Territory.

How to use this Guideline

This document provides guidance to assist aquatic facility operators determine how best to manage the risk of COVID-19 in their workplace. It provides a framework that complements and links to more detailed advice from State and Territory Health Departments as well as Safe Work Australia (and State and Territory safety regulators) and Fair Work Australia. This document is not intended to prescribe specific approaches, but instead seeks to help businesses determine what is appropriate for their individual workplaces and circumstances.

In this Guideline, the following terms are used:

• must – indicates a legal requirement that businesses must comply with
• should – indicates a recommendation
• may – indicates a choice
• can – indicates a possibility or a capability.

Intersection and/or integration with broader water safety, work health safety and public health and safety risk management

This document provides guidance to assist aquatic facility operators determine how best to manage the risks of COVID-19 transmission. It is however recommended that aquatic facility owners and operators balance the considerations of COVID-19 against the existing water safety, work health safety and public health and safety risks already inherent in aquatic environments including aquatic facilities and swim schools.

It is acknowledged by Royal Life Saving and the National Aquatic Industry Committee that some COVID-19 risk mitigations are not reasonable or practicable where a greater risk exists – such as the requirement to keep small children within arms reach in the water at all times by a responsible parent or guardian being eschewed in favour of maintaining social distancing which would be neither reasonable nor practicable. For this reason, reasonable adjustment to risk management practices, rules and standard operating procedures is recommended within the individual contexts and situations that arise and where professional rescuers such as Swimming and Water Safety Teachers and Pool Lifeguards are used, the professional judgement of these water safety experts should be relied upon as needed to respond to immediate and present risks, dangers and emergencies as applicable.

Aquatic industry operators should aim to manage safety in an integrated way which ensures that, as far as is reasonably practicable, measures taken to manage the risk of Covid 19 are integrated with general work health and safety, and water safety, obligations.

More information

For more information about COVID-19 please see the resources available from the Australian Government Department of Health.

You can also call the National Coronavirus Help Line on 1800 020 080 if you have questions about COVID-19. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you require translating or interpreting services, please call 131 450.

RLSSA ACCEPTANCE AND RELEASE NOTICE

This document is a managed document. For identification of amendments, each document contains an issue date, number and a page number. Changes will only be issued as a complete replacement document. Recipients should remove superseded versions from circulation.

Authorisation:

Amendments in this Release:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

In the spirit of reconciliation, Royal Life Saving Society Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises their continued connection to land, waters and communities. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures; Elders past, present and emerging.