Swimming Pool Safety Inspection Checklist

Who this is for

A safety round of a pool and everything around it. A defect table at the head of the sheet takes anything you cannot tick, and six short lists below it cover the barriers and gates, the surround, the water, the rescue equipment, the plant room and signage.

Holiday let and villa owners, campsite and small hotel operators, clubs, schools and households with a private pool who want the safety round separated from the chemistry log.

What this helps you track

• Whether the barriers, gates and covers are doing what they are there for
• Whether the rescue and first aid equipment is present and reachable
• What was found wrong, who is fixing it and by when
• A dated record of each round, kept alongside the water chemistry log

How to use it

1. Walk the barrier line first, from outside in, and tick only what you have actually tested.
2. Check the surround and the water: clarity, the bottom being visible, drains and covers.
3. Count the rescue equipment and try the gates rather than looking at them from a distance.
4. Put every item you could not tick on the defect table at the top, with who is dealing with it.
5. Use the blank lines for anything on your site the lists do not cover — a slide, a hot tub, a gate to the beach.
6. Sign the round and keep it with the chemical log; the two together tell the whole story.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The online version keeps what you enter in your own browser and builds the completed PDF on your device.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

Why is there no water chemistry on this sheet?

Because dosing and test results belong on a log with a column for the figures your own test kit and supplier give you. This sheet is the safety round: barriers, equipment, signage and what you can see.

Does it say what fencing or barriers my pool must have?

No. Barrier, gate and alarm requirements differ widely from one country and region to another, and often between private and public pools. Check the rules where you are and record against them.

Can I use it for a hot tub or a plunge pool?

Yes, with lines crossed out. The barrier, cover, rescue and signage sections apply just as much; the plant room section may not.

What should go in the defect table?

Anything you could not tick, with enough detail that someone else could put it right: which gate, which light, which piece of missing equipment.