RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY
Royal Life saving unifies drowning prevention efforts through research, advocacy and stakeholder collaboration
EDUCATION
Royal Life saving provides water safety education for the community, to ensure everyone knows how to participate safely around water.
SWIM TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS
Royal Life Saving supports swim teachers and schools with training, resources, and national standards to deliver safe, effective, and inclusive aquatic education.
LEARN TO SWIM
Royal Life Saving’s Learn to Swim programs build vital water safety and swimming skills that help prevent drowning and support lifelong confidence in the water.
Workforce development
Royal Life Saving brings stakeholders together to unify efforts, share expertise and deliver impactful solutions.
COURSES
Royal Life Saving offers a wide range of training courses suitable for community members and all levels of aquatic industry professionals.
LIFESAVING PROGRAMS
Royal Life Saving’s programs build rescue and resuscitation skills to help individuals respond confidently in aquatic emergencies.
LIFESAVING SPORT
Royal Life Saving offers members the opportunity to participate in Pool Lifesaving Sport at all skill levels.
ROYAL LIFE SAVING


Guidelines for Safe Pool Operations
Setting the standard for Aquatic Safety in Swimming Pools

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 Guidelines for Safe Pool Operation (GSPO), which compiles and contextualises these standards and frameworks, making them easier to understand and apply to aquatic facilities.
The GSPO is the recognised national industry standard that describes and makes recommendations as to the appropriate minimum standards of safety that should be attached to the design, ownership and operations of aquatic facilities thereby providing a recognised standard of care in a particular area of design and/or operations.Although published by Royal Life Saving, the GSPO represents the collective opinion of the aquatic industry across Australia, through an extensive and consultative development and review process undertaken by the National Aquatic Industry Committee (NAIC). As such, the GSPO is written and authorised for industry by industry - leveraging a formal network of collaborators both nationally and internationally.
All aquatic facility designers, owners and operators are strongly recommended to access and have an understanding of the GSPO in order to meet their obligations under the respective state and/or territory health and safety legislation.The Guidelines for Safe Pool Operations is an annual online subscription service. There are no printed versions.
All GSPO subscriptions are valid for a 12-month basis beginning on the 1st of July and finishing on the 30th of June the following year. Subscriptions will automatically renew on 1st of July unless the plan is cancelled.
Subscriptions are AU$117* per year (inc.GST) for individual aquatic facilities.
All transactions are processed in Australian Dollars (AUD) and is inclusive of GST.
*Persons or entities who subscribe multiple facilities are able to access a Management Subscription discount, but are still required to subscribe all managed facilities in order to be considered subscribed to the Guidelines.
Please note - as the GSPO is a digital resource and access is granted instantly, all sales are considered final. If you would like to dispute a transaction please contact info@rlssa.org.au
All subscriptions to the GSPO incur an associated fee. Subscriptions are available on a per facility basis per financial year. Subscribers with multiple facilities are able to receive a discount.
During the subscription process, subscribers’ business and personal details will be recorded by RLSSA in the relevant database. All personal details will be kept confidential as outlined in the Privacy Policy on the website. Personal details provided to RLSSA will not be released to any other organisation without the written permission of the individual concerned, unless required to do so by law. Business details will remain de-identified however may be used in generalised and broad terms for the purposes State of Industry reporting.The Guidelines for Safe Pool Operations consist of the following sections:
- Risk Management
- Emergency Planning
- Incident Management
- Aquatic Supervision
- Child Safety
- Swimming Water Safety and Aquatic Exercise
- Training and Qualification
- Safe Design
- Facility Design
- Swimming Pool Design
- Safety Equipment
- Safety Signage
- Asset Management

