Swimming Pool Management

Key Benefits

• Ensure your school or academy complies with the County Council’s policy Managing Health and Safety in Swimming Pools (Adobe PDF, 224KB) (secure document).
• Expert advice on all aspects of swimming pool management.
• Expert advice on pool plant equipment.

Service Details

Our service is suitable for indoor, outdoor, learner and hydrotherapy pools. We make one visit a week to test hydrotherapy pools. For any other kind of pool, we visit once a month during periods that they are in use.

At each visit, we check the:

• microbiological content – a water sample is taken for analysis and results forwarded to your school within 48 hours and a laboratory report posted to your school within 10 days
• water quality – test for chlorine bromine, pH bromine, pH chlorine, cyanuric acid, total alkalinity, calcium hardness and total dissolved solids
• automatic dosing pools – a comparison between the result found and the indication given on the system's display meter. If required, the need to re-calibrate the equipment will be reported
• pH value of the water
• water clarity – if the clarity is poor we will carry out further assessments and give you advice on overcoming any problems
• condition of the area around the pool, including paving and any areas used by swimmers with unprotected feet
• safety of the changing areas – provision of suitable flooring, which helps prevent the spread of viral foot infections. Removal of potential chemical or electrical hazards
• provision of disinfectant footbaths
• state of the pool ladder
• provision of safety equipment, including rescue equipment and buoyancy aids
• Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) records are up-to-date – assessments of chemicals in use by school staff, including the name of the staff member, date, time, and type and quantity of chemicals used
• security, suitability, labelling, storage and sufficiency of pool maintenance chemicals stored at your site
• condition of your chemical testing equipment.

An adviser will visit your swimming pool for any of the following reasons:

• a routine inspection – once a week for hydrotherapy pools and once a month for all other pools.
• if you request an additional visit
• if your pool fails a microbiological test.

At the end of each visit we will give you a completed checklist for all these items, including chemical test results. We cannot guarantee that all swimming pools are fully safe at all times. This guarantee can only be given at the time of a successful test.

If your pool fails a test, it must be closed until it is passed as safe again. A qualified officer can visit to retest a pool after a previous failure, or for any other reason at your request. There is an additional charge for these extra visits.

Our staff are available to offer you advice and guidance over the telephone. We offer pool operator training for an additional cost.