Decision Maker’s Guide to Lifeguard Protection

The decision to protect the public in an aquatic facility, either by providing lifeguards or using another preventive strategy such as signage, requires careful assessment of the alternatives available to the facility or jurisdiction. This section offers some suggestions about how decision makers might approach such a choice and frame the alternatives.

In order to assist in evaluating the need for providing lifeguards in a facility or local jurisdiction, consider these steps:

(1) Use any relevant data available on the facility or jurisdiction. Data may include:

• The number of people using the facility or beach area during past years;

• The incidence¹⁰ of water-related injuries and drownings at the facility or beach during those times;

• The number of water-related injuries and drownings at pools and beaches in the locality or state with and without lifeguards, for comparison; and

• the level of lifeguards provided (e.g., number of lifeguards per number of persons using the facility).

(2) If lifeguards are already provided, then ask the questions:

• How have lifeguards affected patrons’ safety and attitudes?

• Is the drowning rate increasing, decreasing, or has it remained unchanged?

(3) Assess proposed alternatives (e.g., hiring lifeguards, placing warning signs, modifying the aquatic environment or restricting access to the facility). As various alternatives are developed, use history and precedence to assess them.

• Try to estimate the cost-effectiveness of each alternative.

• Assess legal implications and opinions that are critical to the issue and the alternatives.

¹⁰ Incidence is the number of drownings (or number of water-related injuries) divided by the total number of visitors at the facility or jurisdiction, multiplied by the period of time in question (e.g., 1 year).