In the past three weeks, Queensland has lost four children aged under five to drowning, half of whom died in a backyard pool.

Most children who drown have wonderful, attentive parents who for that split second in time got distracted and bear guilt and grief that those of us not affected cannot even begin to comprehend. At Royal Life Saving, we always stress the need for parental supervision. But you're asking parents to be superhuman if you expect they can watch their under fives 24 hours of the day, seven days a week. I wonder how many of the people who object to pool fencing laws and call for parents to be "more responsible" have ever tried to balance one or even a couple of kids under five while cooking dinner, cleaning the house, answering the door or any of the million and one distractions of everyday life. It's no coincidence that many of the children who drown in backyard pools die during the time their families are preparing for dinner and bed when it's easy for them to disappear for a minute or two without being missed.

The argument that swimming lessons are the solution is spurious. Most children don't have the gross motor skills to be able to swim before the age of five; most of these type of drowning deaths are in children aged well below that. Water familiarisation classes are a great idea, but they alone are not the answer. Kids that age are inquisitive. It's one of the joys of being a parent, watching your little ones discover things for the first time. We know that most kids love water; they love the sensation on their skin. As toddlers, they are testing boundaries and they do things to get into pools that parents would never think to try, like using their tiny fingers to tap along and find panels that might come off the fence.

Children drown silently and in less than a minute which is why pool fencing is so important. In Queensland alone, the official estimate is that pool fencing has saved 100 lives over a ten-year-period. The problem now is we've had laws since 1992. That's 16 years of many fences being buffeted by the Queensland weather, latches being pushed and pulled, screws and hinges slowly rusting, the family dog digging holes around the base of the fence. Most people don't know that a single stormy day can impact on the structural integrity of the fence, weakening it at key points. And that's why regular inspections are vital to check everything is in working order and to make sure pool owners are conscious of the need not to have outdoor furniture or other climbable objects left anywhere near the pool.

The laws we do have in Queensland don't necessarily mandate full fencing on all four sides of the pool. The laws weren't retrospective, which means if your pool was built before 1992, then your fence might use the back backdoor of the house as part of the fourth side, which is effectively useless when you think about the determination of a three-year-old who wants to get in the water now. People have also started getting complacent; propping open gates, ignoring gate latches that don't quite catch anymore. A regular check of pool fencing might just be the wake up call that all pool owners need to make sure they don't fall into bad habits. You can download a free checklist and do a basic check yourself from www.homepoolsafety.com.au

We can't lighten the burden of grief from the families who have lost children to drowning. All we can do is try and make sure no other child joins the terrible statistics. by Royal Life Saving