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Home » Consumer Information » Occupational Safety

Lifeguards

A lifeguard is an emergency service worker in charge of safety at recreational water sources, such as beaches, swimming pools and water parks. Lifeguards are strong swimmers trained and certified in water rescue, CPR and first aid. A lifeguard's mission is to prevent accidents both in the water and on land and to rescue victims of accidents that could not be prevented. Lifeguards must always be alert and have excellent decision-making and communication skills.

A lifeguard's primary duties are surveillance, rule enforcement, rescues and first aid. Surveillance is performed from an elevated stand, where lifeguards can watch for unusual swim activity, including:

  • Swimmers suffering from sudden medical conditions, such as stroke, heart attack, asthma, diabetes, or seizures.
  • Swimmers who are inactive or submerged in the water.
  • The flailing arms of swimmers who are drowning and attempting to stay at the surface.
  • Distressed swimmers who are having trouble swimming.

Secondary lifeguarding duties include filling out incident reports after accidents and ensuring facilities are maintained safe and clean. They are also a source of information for swimmers and teachers for lifeguards in training.

Knowledge of CPR is absolutely necessary as it must be performed on a drowning victim, but knowledge of first aid is also very important. Lifeguards must commit the SAMPLE acronym to memory in order to administer first aid appropriately:

  • S – Signs and symptoms. Lifeguards must detect where victims feel pain, discomfort, numbness or loss of sensation.
  • A – Allergies. Lifeguards must be informed of a victim's allergies.
  • M – Medications. Lifeguards must know what medical conditions a victim has and what medications the victim has consumed in the last 24 hours.
  • P – Pertinent past medical history. Lifeguards must figure out if a victim has experienced any recent falls, blows to the head or medical, surgical or traumatic incidents.
  • L – Last oral intake. Lifeguards must figure out when the victim last ate and drank.
  • E – Events leading up to the incident. Lifeguards must be informed of what the victim was doing when the incident occurred.

Lifeguards perform nearly 18,000 beach rescues a year, a demanding and risky task. Lifeguards must be properly trained and strictly observe occupational regulations in order to successfully protect the lives of others and their own.

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