Sport and Recreation Safety Patrollers
Look after the safety of people in recreational and sporting places such as beaches, swimming pools and ski slopes through accident prevention and rescue.
A hot Saturday on patrol
You are a lifeguard on a busy beach, watching the water, advising the public and ready to respond to anyone in trouble. It is 10am and the beach is filling up fast. The forecast is for heat and a building swell, and your team has four people on duty for hundreds of swimmers.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
We're good swimmers, we do it all the time. We're going out past the rocks, away from the crowd. It's boring between the flags. You can't stop us, it's a public beach.
Tell them they're free to go if they stay together and keep an eye on each other
The group gets into difficulty beyond the rocks where you cannot easily reach them. The flags mark where you can watch and respond. Being a good swimmer does not change the water.
Explain why the flags are where they are, show them the conditions, and point to the best spot to swim
They grumble but they swim in the flagged area. You've done the job, and a friendly offer to let them try the board in the shallows after your shift might have won them over.
Be friendly, explain where you can see and help them, and point to a safe area for strong swimmers
They stay between the flags and have a good morning. One of them comes back at lunch to ask about joining the junior programs. Respect works better than a lecture.
I can't find my little girl! She was building a sandcastle right here two minutes ago. Her name is Mika and she's five. She had a red hat. Please, you have to help!
Stay on your tower, scan the water first, and send the radio call after
The water is clear, but the girl is found by another lifeguard much later than she could have been. Checking the water matters, but so does calling for more eyes right away.
Get a description, radio the whole team, and ask Mrs Tanaka to stay where she is
Within minutes the team spots Mika with a stranger who was looking for her family. Mrs Tanaka is in tears and so is Mika. A calm, clear radio call turns many pairs of eyes into one search.
Tell Mrs Tanaka to go and search the beach herself while you watch the water
Mrs Tanaka runs along the beach calling, with no plan and no radio. It takes far longer to find Mika. A parent in a panic needs someone to organise the search around them.
I'm cooked. The sun's been on me for hours and I keep losing focus. I don't want to look weak, but I've missed a couple of things I should have noticed. What should I do?
Tell him to push on until the lunch break, since there aren't enough people to cover him
Tom misses a swimmer drifting out. He catches it late, but it's a close call. A tired lifeguard is a hazard, and a short rotation costs far less than a missed rescue.
Ask the supervisor to rotate him off the tower, and get him shade and water
Tom is swapped out for twenty minutes, drinks water and comes back sharper. The supervisor thanks you for raising it. Looking after each other is part of keeping a beach safe.
Cover for him quietly by watching his section as well as your own
You look after both sections, but your own attention is split. Helping a mate is good, though splitting your watch weakens it for everyone.
How it went
By six the flags come down and the beach is almost empty. Lifeguarding is long, steady watching with brief moments of fast action, and it depends on a team looking out for one another. Could you stay alert for hours so that nothing happens?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The swimmer who did not look in trouble
A fictional case set in a patrolled surf beach and the small lifeguard tower behind it, in a fictional coastal town.
The situation
Lifeguard Nasrin was on the afternoon tower at Gannet Bay on a hot Sunday with big crowds. The beach was busy and the water was a little rough. She had been scanning the same stretch of water for an hour. A man swimming between the flags was moving slowly and had not waved or called out. Several swimmers around him were laughing and splashing. Her colleague on the next tower was dealing with a lost child.
What they did
Nasrin could not tell if the man was fine, so she did not wait to find out. She raised her binoculars and watched him for a few seconds. He was not making progress and kept turning his head toward the shore. She radioed her colleague, signalled to the jet ski crew and went into the water with a rescue board. The man had been caught by a channel of moving water and was too tired to call out.
How it turned out
He was brought in, wrapped in a towel and checked by the first aid officer. He was fine, and told Nasrin he'd been too embarrassed to wave. Nasrin used the story at the next briefing to remind her team that trouble in the water is often silent.
What would you do?
- Why did Nasrin act before she was sure that something was wrong?
- What might make it hard to stay focused on the water for hours at a time?
- Why might someone be embarrassed to call for help?