A USELESS pool fence sold by Clark Rubber has been recalled nationally after failing tests by product safety regulators.

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission found the latch on the ‘Be-Safe Pool Fence — Portable Pool Fence Starter Kit’ is not self-latching, when it is required to be by law.

“This completely defeats its safety purpose,” the state’s Minister for Housing and Public Works Mick de Brenni said last night.

“It has failed the relevant Australian Standard for pool safety, it has failed to meet the standard required by Queensland’s non-conforming building product legislation, and it’s simply failed community standards.”

There have been 147 fences sold across Australia: 57 in NSW, 33 in Victoria, 31 in Queensland, 12 in WA, six in SA and the ACT and two in the NT. Nineteen have already been returned.

“This is an accident waiting to happen, and I’m pleased the QBCC acted swiftly to investigate and advise me of the issue,” Mr de Brenni said.

The QBCC was alerted to the problems with the fence in January this year.

At the same time consumer group Choice began an investigation into the fence after receiving a video in January of a four-year-old opening it unassisted.

Clark Rubber’s general manger of merchandise Anthony Grice told News Corp this morning that the company was “confronted” by the footage.

In response the fence was removed from sale, tested and found to be compliant with the Standard, he said.

“It was an installation issue,” Mr Grice said, so it went back on sale with clarified installation instructions.

It was again withdrawn during the QBCC investigation.

The company has now voluntarily decided to recall the fence nationally.

“Our decision not to recall the product sooner was based on the advice of the NATA (National Association of Testing Authorities) accredited lab and the manufacturer,” Mr Grice said.

He said Clark Rubber now wanted the fence out of backyards “as quickly as possible”.

Consumers who bought the fence are urged to return it to the retailer immediately, where they are entitled to a full refund.

Clark Rubber has about 60 stores nationally: 11 in each of NSW, Western Australia and Queensland, 18 in Victoria, six in South Australia and one each in Tasmania, the ACT and the NT.

Choice spokesman Tom Godfrey said: “This latest case is yet another reminder that we need to toughen Australian Consumer Law through the mandating of a general safety provision and the introduction of tougher recall requirements.

“Companies should be forced to disclose the key details of the product safety recall to the public, like how many products have been taken off the shelves and how many are still in circulation, something that doesn’t happen at the moment unless the Federal Government declares a mandatory recall,” Mr Godfrey said.

“It’s also time the Federal Government introduce new legal and financial penalties to make it explicitly clear to businesses that it’s illegal to sell unsafe products.”