Victorian Consolidated Regulations

PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELLBEING REGULATIONS 2019 - REG 4

In these Regulations—

Reg. 4 def. of adult inserted by S.R. No. 15/2021 reg. 3.

"adult" means a person of or above the age of 18 years;

"aquatic facility" means—

(a)a category 1 aquatic facility that is not an exempt aquatic facility; or

(b)a category 2 aquatic facility that is not an exempt aquatic facility;

"aquatic facility operator" means a person who owns, manages or controls an aquatic facility;

"article" means any appliance, instrument, container, applicator, cosmetic, dye, dressing or thing used on a living human being;

"biocide" means a physical or chemical agent capable of killing micro-organisms;

"body" piercing has the same meaning as it has in section 43(1) of the Summary Offences Act 1966 ;

category 1 aquatic facility means a swimming pool, spa pool or interactive water feature that—

        (a)     is used by members of the public, whether free of charge or on payment of a fee; or

        (b)     is used in association with a class or program that is offered free of charge or on payment of a fee; or

        (c)     is located at the premises of an early childhood service, school or other educational institution; or

        (d)     is located at premises at which residential aged care services are provided; or

        (e)     is located at any of the following premises—

              (i)     a public hospital;

              (ii)     a multi purpose service;

              (iii)     a denominational hospital;

              (iv)     a private hospital;

              (v)     a privately-operated hospital within the meaning of section 3(1) of the Health Services Act 1988 ;

category 2 aquatic facility means a swimming pool or spa pool that is used by members of the public and located at the premises of the following—

        (a)     a residential apartment complex;

        (b)     a hotel, motel or hostel;

Reg. 4 def. of child inserted by S.R. No. 15/2021 reg. 3.

"child", in the case of a person who is alleged to have committed an infringement offence, means a person who at the time of the alleged commission of the infringement offence was of or above the age of 10 years and under the age of 18 years;

"commercial vehicle wash" means a business where cars, trucks and other vehicles are washed;

Reg. 4 def. of disease vector revoked by S.R. No. 88/2022 reg. 5(2).

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"disinfect" means to carry out a process which—

        (a)     is intended to inactivate or remove pathogenic micro-organisms; and

        (b)     in the case of a cooling tower system, consists of dosing the recirculating water inside the cooling tower system with—

              (i)     a chlorine based compound, equivalent to at least 10 mg/L of free chlorine for at least one hour, while maintaining the pH of the water between 7·0 and 7·6; or

              (ii)     a bromine based compound, equivalent to at least 20 mg/L of free bromine for at least one hour, while maintaining the pH of the water between 7·0 and 8·5;

"drinking water" has the same meaning as it has in section 3 of the Safe Drinking Water Act 2003 ;

"exempt aquatic facility "means any of the following—

        (a)     a spa pool that is, or is intended to be, emptied of water after each use;

        (b)     a floatation tank;

        (c)     a spring water pool that has a turnover rate of at least 25 percent of the entire volume of the water in the pool to waste each hour;

        (d)     a waterway within the meaning of section 3(1) of the Water Act 1989 ;

        (e)     a private dam within the meaning of section 3(1) of the Water Act 1989 ;

"floatation tank" means a heated, highly saline, fluid-filled enclosed tank designed for individual therapeutic use;

"food premises" has the same meaning as it has in section 4(1) of the Food Act 1984 ;

"food vending machine" has the same meaning as it has in section 4(1) of the Food Act 1984 ;

"healthcare identifier" has the same meaning as in the Healthcare Identifiers Act 2010 of the Commonwealth;

"heterotrophic colony count" means an estimate of the number of the viable units of bacteria per millilitre of water;

Reg. 4 def. of HIV inserted by S.R. No. 88/2022 reg. 5(1).

"HIV" means the human immuno-deficiency virus;

"interactive water feature" means any of the following—

        (a)     a water slide and its associated receiving pool that uses recirculating water;

        (b)     a wave pool or water play park that uses recirculating water;

        (c)     any other artificially constructed water play feature where recirculating water may be inhaled or swallowed by a person or come into contact with a person's skin or mucous membranes;

"laboratory" means a laboratory accredited by the National Association of Testing Authorities;

Reg. 4 def. of laboratory service revoked by S.R. No. 88/2022 reg. 5(2).

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"Legionella" means bacteria belonging to the genus Legionella ;

"medicare number" has the same meaning as in Part VII of the National Health Act 1953 of the Commonwealth;

"mosquito breeding ground "means a place where mosquito eggs, larvae or pupae are present;

"nucleic acid test "means any test that detects nucleic acid, including polymerase chain reaction testing;

"personal service" means any of the following—

        (a)     beauty therapy;

        (b)     applying cosmetics that does not involve skin penetration or tattooing;

        (c)     hairdressing;

        (d)     colonic irrigation;

        (e)     tattooing;

        (f)     ear piercing, body piercing or any other process involving skin penetration;

"prison" has the same meaning as it has in section 3(1) of the Corrections Act 1986 ;

"privately-operated hospital" has the same meaning as it has in section 3(1) of the Health Services Act 1988 ;

"Public Health Laboratory" means—

        (a)     the Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory; or

        (b)     the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity);

"recirculating water", in respect of a cooling tower system, means the water that circulates inside a cooling tower system;

"residential apartment complex" means land affected by an owners corporation (within the meaning of section 3 of the Owners Corporations Act 2006 ) where the lots consist predominantly of self-contained apartments;

"self-contained apartment "means a portion of a building that forms a self-contained residence, including kitchen, bathroom and toilet facilities, under the exclusive possession of the occupier;

"spa pool "means an artificially constructed pool that —

        (a)     has facilities for circulating heated turbulent water; and

        (b)     is used or intended to be used for passive recreational or therapeutic bathing;

"swimming pool "means any artificial structure containing water that is used or intended to be used by people for any of the following—

        (a)     swimming;

        (b)     diving;

        (c)     recreational or therapeutic bathing;

        (d)     hydrotherapy;

        (e)     exercise;

        (f)     paddling;

        (g)     wading;

"the Act "means the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 ;

"vaccine-preventable disease" means a disease prescribed by regulation 106 to be a vaccine‑preventable disease;

"water delivery system" includes any shower plumbing, bath, pipes, water heaters, bathing facilities, water storage tanks or vehicle washing equipment used to store, deliver, transmit, treat or mix water;

"Water Quality Guidelines" means the Water quality guidelines for public aquatic facilities: Managing public health risks, as published by the Secretary on the Department's website from time to time.