A lifeguard supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, or beach. Lifeguards are strong swimmers and trained in first aid, certified in water rescue using a variety of aids and equipment depending on requirements of their particular venue. In some areas, lifeguards are part of the emergency services system to incidents and in some communities, the lifeguard service also carries out mountain rescues, or may function as the primary EMS provider.
The conditions resulting in drowning are summarized by the 'drowning chain' in which each link can lead directly to an incident, or contribute to a succession of links. It consists of lack of education about water safety or local conditions, a lack of safety advice (for example, about rip currents at a beach) a lack of protection (like no flotation device for a weak swimmer), lack of safety supervision, or an inability to cope with conditions (strong surf with a weak swimmer).
The drowning chain provides a clear basis for preventing drowning which includes:
Lifeguards may have other secondary duties such as cleaning, filing paperwork, checking a swimming pool's chlorine and pH levels or acting as a general information point. It is important that lifeguards never allow their secondary responsibilities to interfere with their primary responsibilities.
Some lifeguard teams use portable platforms or chairs which can be moved to the most appropriate position. This can help take account of changes such as a specific activity taking place, prevailing wind direction or simply enable lifeguards to move closer to the water if the tide goes out on a beach.
The chair or tower can also act as storage for the lifeguard, holding their important rescue or communication equipment close to hand. It can also act as a recognizable point for members of the public to find lifeguard assistance. For this reason, it is often marked with a flag or flags to enable location by the public, and these flags may also give information to the bathers about the conditions for swimming.
Other options, depending on the location, can include patrolling the edge of the water on foot, which allows closer interaction with the public, and the opportunity to provide face to face reassurance and advice, or even supervising from within or on the water, which is most applicable in open water (such as the sea or even a large water park) where lifeguards can use boats or other personal watercraft to be within the water, which extends their range and may allow quicker response to emergencies.
Equipment used by lifeguards will vary depending on the location and specific conditions encountered, however certain equipment is relatively universal such as a whistle for attracting the attention of the public or other members of the team, a first aid kit and rescue aids.
In addition to these basic lifeguarding techniques, some units are trained in additional water rescue techniques such as scuba diving or in rescue techniques unrelated to water rescue such as abseiling for cliff rescue and will carry appropriate equipment for these.
A more traditional method of communication with the public is through the use of colored flags, which can be raised over permanent or temporary flag poles to inform members of the public of different information.
More often than not a whistle is used in the pool leisure facility (public and private), the following signals are used by a Lifeguard with a whistle.
They may also use larger water craft such as large rigid or inflatable boats or even hovercraft.
In November 2009, the Canadian Red Cross Lifeguard program was developed in accordance with the International Red Cross quality standards and meets all provincial/territorial legislation requirements in addition to being aligned with the international lifeguard standards.
Both qualifications are recognised professionally within the United Kingdom and enable the holder to work as a Professional Pool Lifeguard satisfying all HSE regulations. For Public Swimming sessions a full lifeguard qualification is recommended by the HSE in the Managing health and safety in swimming pools manual.
A full Pool Lifeguard course lasts a minimum of 36 hours and ends with external examiners testing the individuals both on land and in the water and includes an examination paper. The qualification is valid for two years from the date of assessment. A minimum of 20 hours training must be logged in those two years for the individual to be eligible to submit for a renewal examination. The employer of the lifeguard should provide training every month in lifeguard skills and resuscitation training to help it comply with HSE guidelines. Additional units which all full Pool Lifeguards are assessed vigorously and which all Leisure facilities must have (public and private) is the use of spinal boards, a specialist piece of rescue equipment designed for immobilizing a casualty suspected of suffering a Spinal Cord injury.
All RLSS qualifications are trained by TAs (Trainer/Assessors) these are more often experienced lifeguards or lifesavers who have undergone additional training in order to train and assess. Many Leisure centres have their own TAs who operate in-house training for the Lifeguards. TAs also assess qualification renewals but are unable to assess any Lifeguard that works in the same place the TA hold training sessions. Also they are unable to assess any Lifeguard they have trained. These rules are to reduce the risk of collusion.
Both organisations also offer a range of "specialist modules" that can be added to the basic qualification, such as VHF Radio Operator; Rescue Water Craft RWC, Rescue Surf Skills, Rescue (paddle) Board, Rescue Boat (Crew), Rescue Boat (Driver), AED and CPR Oxygen Administration.
The RNLI is the largest operator of lifeguard units in the UK, patrolling over 140 operational beaches around the coast of England and Wales, helping around 7,000 people each year.
The American Red Cross, USLA and Ellis and Associates establish standards which are universally adopted for lifeguard training.
In 2009, 117 drowned at the nation's beaches; 21 drowned where lifeguards were on duty. There were 82,969 rescues reported from 114 reporting agencies.
Category:First aid Category:Surf lifesaving Category:Emergency services
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