swimming pool safety

tightgit_2

Wanted to share with you something that happened at the weekend. We took our kids swimming at a leisure centre and there was a terrible incident where a little girl nearly drowned. There were several life guards there and fortunately they managed to resusitate her, however I think it was more luck than their skills.They seemed to handle the situation badly and panicked an awful lot and the way the child was dragged out of the pool could have caused serious injuy in itself. It turned out that she was 8 years old and was in the pool alone. Her Mother and Grandmother were in the cafe that overlooks the pool. I have two points, to my mind she should not have been in the pool on her own and also I would not like to put my trust in those lifeguards. I wanted to share this as a warning to other parents.

pickle

I agree - I was at a leisure centre myself having a swim a couple of weeks ago and saw the lifeguard walk out of the pool area for a couple of minutes leaving the pool completely unattended. I was quite amazed and made sure that i kept an eye on the kids in the pool, a child could easily drown in a couple of minutes.

tightgit_2

That's what freaked me out the most, how quickly it all happened. :eek:

crafty

Some years back, a 35 yr old man drowned in my local pool.

I was on Hospital duty in A & E at the time when he was brought in DOA Dead On Arrival.

He was V overweight, poor guy was probably only trying to get fit, when he got into difficulty's, so its not only the kids that need an eye keeping on them.

I must say that no child of mine gets left unattended for a moment when
in the pool.

Perhaps anyone visiting a swimming pool on their own should make the life guard aware before getting in.

You may feel a **** doing this, but these things happen so fast as tightgit has stated.

pickle

They definitely should let the lifeguard know but i'm surprised that she was able to get into the pool area without a lifeguard keeping watch over the pool. They shouldn't even open the door if a lifeguard isn't there, it's plain negligence.

jay-1

I worked for a number of years as a swimming teacher and lifeguard at our local pool and it is Health and safety rules that no child UNDER 8 is allowed in unaccompanied. Any lifeguard leaving the poolside without getting cover should face the sack as this would amount to gross misconduct.

Lifeguards are required to get re examined every 2 years by an outside examiner in addition at our pool we were assessed every 3 months on lifesaving and every month on resusitation keeping a log book confirming training and test results.

Sadly some pools are more vigalant than others as are some parents. You would be supprised at the number of parents that would argue with me that their child was a good swimmer and should be allowed down the deep end when infact they were very poor swimmers.

Thankfully I never had to deal with a near drowning but I know how quickly things can happen and can imagine how distressing it was for all concerned.

I would assume they will have to have an inquiry as Health and safety would have been advised of the incident and hopefully lessons learned.

jellyhead

i was swimming yesterday with some 8 year olds and they weren't allowed in the big pool because i was lazily wallowing in the (much warmer!) little pool talking to a friend and her baby. the lifeguard sent them back to ask me to go with them. i was impressed by the vigilance of the lifeguard as i hadn't seen them leave the little pool and they hadn't asked my permission - they go swimming with school every week in the big pool so they didn't think there was any reason for them not to get in. lifeguard told me the policy only applies to under 8's but my son is tiny so he doesn't look 8. i wouldn't normally have let the kids out of my sight but it only takes a moment of distraction to not notice where they are, i'm grateful that the lifeguard sent them back until i was ready to go in with them. our pool has 4 lifeguards watching 3 pools.

tightgit_2

There were 4 lifeguards on that day for one swimming pool, but they do have a habit of chatting to their friends when they are working. I think the Mum was in the wrong for letting her go in alone. My kids are 12 and 9 and although I loathe swimming I always get in with them even though they can swim.

jellyhead

our lifeguards can't chat to each other, too far away and i've never seen them chat to friends either. i agree that parents should watch their kids. i'm glad the lifeguard wouldn't let my kids in without me, i would usually be with them, i just took my eyes off them for a minute to play with the baby and they went to the bigger pool. i felt really guilty, the girl can't swim and the pool is sloped so she could have got out of her depth, or jumped into the deep end (she's hyperactive and a bit impulsive). i would normally be with them, can't believe parents who'd sit in a cafe and not go into the pool at all.

cariba creek at alton towers is a bit scary - lots of lifeguards but kids under ten only need to have a parents go through with them, parents can then sit in the cafe part, don't need to get undressed or go into the water at all and ther are some deep parts, strong rapids etc. kids a metre tall (i think, could have been 1.2 but my nephew is 1.2 at 5 years old) can go on slides on their own, lots of bits are out of sight, you couldn't watch your kids if you weren't actually with them. the lifeguards have screens etc. but i still couldn't believe the amount of unsupervised kids there were.

tightgit_2

When I said their freinds, I didn't mean the other life guards I meant their freinds that happen to be swimming there or hanging about the cafe area. I know it is very hard to keep your eye on kids every minute of the day and sometimes they do wander off.

jellyhead

hmmm, you'd expect lifeguards to be vigilant and not chat to their friends while on duty.