Supervise the pools on a busy Saturday afternoon

What is going on

It is Saturday afternoon and you are on the deck with Sienna Costa from 12 pm. A birthday party of fourteen children aged six to nine is booked in the learn to swim pool with three parents, and the 50 metre pool has lap swimmers and families. Last week a lifeguard assisted an eight year old in the deep end whose parent was distracted, and the Aquatics Manager wants the watch around water rule enforced early and kindly. The supervision plan sets two lifeguards on the deck at this bather load with rotations every thirty minutes. Water tests are due at 2 pm and 4 pm and the defibrillator and oxygen check must be recorded at the start of the shift.

Your brief

Supervise the pools to the supervision plan for the whole shift, keep rescue equipment ready, enforce the watch around water rule with the party group, complete and log the water tests, respond correctly to a simulated patron in difficulty and record every assist and test in the right register.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

• Read the aquatic supervision and water safety policy and the emergency response procedure, and confirm the supervision plan positions, zones and rotation times for the afternoon bather load.
• Complete the opening check of rescue tubes, first aid kit, oxygen and the defibrillator and record it in the equipment and maintenance register.
• Take your first supervision position, scan your zone continuously using the scanning pattern you were trained in, and complete a handover scan at each thirty minute rotation with Sienna.
• Speak to the party parents early about the watch around water rule, position yourself where the youngest children are and call the duty supervisor if a parent will not comply.
• Complete the 2 pm and 4 pm water tests for the pools, record the results in the pool water quality log and apply the corrective action steps if any result is out of range.
• Respond to a simulated child in difficulty in the deep end using the whistle signal, the rescue tube and the rescue technique appropriate to the situation, while Sienna clears the zone and calls the duty supervisor.
• Record the assist on the incident, rescue and first aid report form and enter it in the incident register the same day, and take part in the debrief.
• Write a short reflection on the decision to close a pool: what result or situation would make you close it and who you would tell.

What someone in this role would produce

• Opening equipment check record
• Pool water quality log entries for 2 pm and 4 pm
• Incident register entry for the simulated assist with the report form
• Reflection on pool closure decisions