Tough new pool safety rules
Rachel Browne
October 12, 2008
LIFEGUARDS are removing unsupervised children from public pools and taking them to safety zones under new guidelines to prevent drownings.
Initiated by the Royal Life Saving Society, the active supervision of children policy has already been implemented in pools managed by the YMCA and some council-run pools.
Under the policy - part of a wider campaign to keep watch at public pools - children aged under five must have a parent or guardian in the water with them and within arm's reach at all times. Children aged between five and 10 must be close enough to a parent or guardian to make eye contact.
YMCA group manager and aquatics program manager Craig Lambeth, who is implementing the policy at YMCA-managed pools, said some parents had reacted badly.
"Under the policy, our staff have to look at the children in the pool, identify those at risk and physically get into the pool, remove them and take them to a safety zone," he said.
"We get absolutely slaughtered by parents for doing it. They will look for their kids, they can't see them and they will go into a panic.
"But we make no apologies for doing it. We are safeguarding their kids. This policy is a guideline only but I'm sure it would be treated as law in a coroner's court."
The YMCA manages 13 pools in NSW, including the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre and the Cook + Phillip Park Aquatic and Fitness Centre in Sydney.
Mr Lambeth said parents needed to take more responsibility for their children, rather than assuming lifeguards would supervise them. "They haven't been watching their kid and the kid could have drowned," he said. "We have some kids in the safety zone for half an hour before anyone realises they are missing."
Children can drown in less than a minute and make up a large proportion of annual drowning statistics.
Royal Life Saving Society figures show 35 children aged up to four years old died in 2006-07 and 21 children aged five to 14 died in the same period. They make up nearly a fifth of all drownings in Australia.
Rob Bradley, chief executive of Royal Life Saving and convener of the Australian Water Safety Council, said the "keep watch in public pools" campaign was part of a drive to reduce drownings in Australia by 50 per cent by 2020. He hoped all public pools would implement the policy.
"We just want to remind parents that lifeguards are not baby sitters," he said.
"Parents need to realise that the days of dropping their children off at the pool for a few hours while they go to shops are over. It's not acceptable."
Source: The Sun-Herald
4 comments:
I remember almost drowning myself as a young child, at Gunnamatta Bay baths. It was in the beach part of the pool, not out where the pontoon was (still is). I remember being in the water with my older sister and, unable to swim and getting out of my depth. Somebody must have helped me back to where I could stand up, and unknowingly, saved my life.
Hi helen
That must really have been terrifying.
My mum nearly drowned in a rive rnear her home when she was about 6, and her uncle jumped in and saved her. She would never put her head under water, and forever preferred sitting outside the pool and watching! Not surprising.
It's great that you became such a keen swimmer despite that.
Get your kids a beach ball and other floating beach toys. These accessories serve a double purpose. Other than toys, they also serve as lifelines to stay afloat. And give them swimming gears like goggles, too.
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Nickysam
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