SUPERVISION

Water Safety Education

for Parents & Caregivers

Online Course Content Updated July 2008

SUPERVISION

Vigilant Surveillance is the primary duty of all lifeguards to prevent accidents. But in reality, vigilance is, by human nature, very difficult to maintain, particularly when the visual tasks required by lifeguards and others become boring, repetitive and routine. Youth, inexperience, fatigue, heat, and sun also negatively affect the ability of a lifeguard to maintain vigilant surveillance.

Lifeguards at Public Pools

The first question you want to ask when you take your children to a guarded pool is, "Are the lifeguards really paying attention?" The answer is many cases is, not as much as they should be.

You should be able to see the lifeguard scanning the pool. They are taught that scanning should begin and end below their chair, so you should see their heads returning to just below their chairs every 10 seconds or so.

The reality is that in performance tests where a mannequin was placed on the bottom of a busy pool the vast majority of lifeguards took over a minute an a half to notice.

Even so, having a lifeguard is much better than not having a lifeguard. Lifeguards are trained to respond to emergencies. We recommend having your child swim at guarded facilities.

When should you allow your child to go to a public pool or country club pool without you?

They must know how to swim. This means a minimum of 100 yards of crawl and 100 yards of backstroke.
They must be of an age that you would drop them off at any public place. If you would not drop off your child at the mall or at a movie to meet friends or see a show alone, do not drop them off at a pool alone.

Lifeguards are only watching your child in the pool, not in the locker rooms or on deck. Lifeguards do not keep your child from leaving. Speaking from personal experience at the B-T pool before we implemented policies to prevent this; some parents dropped off five and six year old swimmers for Open Swim. These children were, in fact, strong swimmers. However, they were five!!! No pool has the staff to supervise such young swimmers the way they need to be supervised.

Baby Pools at public facilities are sometimes guarded and sometimes not guarded. Water quality is an issue of concern at most baby pools. Water should be completely exchanged at least once every day. Chemicals should be checked regularly. Another issue at baby pools is "bottom heavy" toddlers. Toddlers often fall forward when walking in the baby pool, putting both hands down with the face ending up under water. Often, the weight of water-filled diapers adding to the problem, they are unable to right themselves without assistance. I have seen many instances where mom is sitting two feet from a child who has upended, but doesn't notice. There is no cry for help. Children drown in seconds and in silence. You cannot take your eyes off of a non-swimmer.

When you are the lifeguard...

When children are using a backyard pool there should always be a designated, dedicated WATER WATCHER.

Water watchers should always stand up and actively watch swimmers. Water watchers can only watch swimmers or a non-swimmer...not both. Each non-swimmer requires their own watcher within arms reach at all times. We call this Touch Supervision.

More backyard safety tips:

Have safety equipment in place and in working order at all times.
Teenagers should not be allowed to use the pool without supervision.
Do not serve alcohol to swimmers.
Do not allow diving into any backyard pool.

A RESCUE RHYME

The Red Cross teaches REACH - THROW - ROW - DON'T GO. However, we recommend the following:

Reach: Assist a swimmer in trouble by reaching with an object or your arm or leg.

Throw: Throw a line or something that floats to a swimmer in trouble.

Row: In open water situations, use a boat to get to a swimmer in distress.

Go: Go for help. Do not attempt a rescue in water over your head if you are not a trained lifeguard.

Only a trained lifeguard should attempt a deep-water rescue. You can get this training yourself from a variety of organizations. We highly recommend lifeguard training for owners of backyard pools.

Here are the answers to some questions about backyard pool drownings...

Who was in charge of supervision at the time of drowning?

69% of the accidents occurred while one or both parents were responsible for supervision.
10% were adults other than the parents.
14% were sitters
7% were siblings

What were the locations of the pool drownings?

65% were in a pool owned by the child's family
22% were in a pool owned by a relative
11% happened at a neighbor's pool.

Drownings happen quickly and without warning. There is no cry for help. 77% of the children had been seen five minutes or less before being missed and subsequently discovered in the pool.

And where were they last seen?

46% were last seen in the house prior to being found in the pool. Of these, 15% were thought to be sleeping.
23% were last seen in the yard, porch, or patio, not in the pool area. That's a total of 69 percent that were thought not to be in the pool area, but they were found in the water.

CPR / FIRST AID / LIFEGUARD TRAINING

CPR is an artificial method of circulating blood and oxygen through a body attempting to keep the brain alive. CPR & First Aid Training are readily available in most communities. We can help you find a course in your area. It's easy to learn and YOU CAN DO IT.

Lifeguard Training is a great way to learn to respond to emergency situations in and around the water. You do not have to plan to work as a professional lifeguard to benefit from this training. The American Red Course is excellent, but lengthy. I recommend that all fifteen year olds take lifeguard training whether or not they ever plan to lifeguard professionally.

Questions? Click to ask Coach Neal.

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