No Baywatch Babes here, just a silly policy
It seems that all the lifeguards at the beach can do is watch for events in non-dangerous settings. Just when you think you might need a lifeguard at Cobourg's beach - when the conditions get uneasy - that's when the babes take a walk. No Hasselhoff rescues, no Pamela Anderson runs; just an evacuation of the watch towers. Kinda makes you wonder why they are there at all. In this story by Pete Fisher, it was reported that the lifeguards walked after determining the beach was unsafe due to wave conditions. Seems silly to do that but the guards were backed by a supervisor who is quoted, "We have to watch our situation from a legal point of view because we can't have lifeguards putting themselves at risk."
This is a stupid policy and unfair to the public. We expect lifeguards to be just that - lifeguards and they should supervise the beach at all times. After all when the Y whined that they couldn't patrol the beach because they didn't have enough money the Town gave them some more. I guess we should have had them sign a performance contract at that time to safeguard our interests.
This is a stupid policy and unfair to the public. We expect lifeguards to be just that - lifeguards and they should supervise the beach at all times. After all when the Y whined that they couldn't patrol the beach because they didn't have enough money the Town gave them some more. I guess we should have had them sign a performance contract at that time to safeguard our interests.
7 comments:
It's a popular beach long after the lifeguards go home each day too. Many people enjoying the sands till dark on some nights. Is there any legal issue for the town in having no lifeguards during such times ?
This situation is truly ridiculous. Imagine if that mindset takes hold with the police or fire fighters, with them telling us they can't fight that fire or chase that criminal, it's far too dangerous and they might get hurt!
Isn't that what we pay them for?
I am guessing here, but I wonder if the problem isn't that the Y is hiring young people, maybe the children of its members or board members, as life guards, instead of adult professionals who are prepared to actually do the job they are hired to do.
Being a life guard is not about getting a great tan and impressing your friends, it's about guarding swimmers. So do it!
Again the Y disappoints the citizens of Cobourg despite the huge amounts of money we provide to them through taxes, United Way and other donations.
If someone has the most extreme misfortune of drowning within the area supervised by the on-duty lifeguards, are there legal ramifications for the town, or for the Y, or for that matter, anyone at all?
A person can pretty much always claim negligence and file a civil lawsuit, provided they meet the limitation deadline, and have the cash to pay the hired gun to represent them.
Whether they will win or not is another question.
So my point then is that the legal ramifications in the argument about liability of the town and/or lifeguards essentially carry little significance in their actions of walking off the job. The prime responsibility of lifeguards is to provide some measure of assistance to people who are in the water of their own volition, should they encounter difficulties beyond their own capacity to handle them. For the lifeguards to claim unsafe conditions is somewhat akin to a butcher refusing to handle knives because they pose a danger. Either they do the job they asked for or they give someone else the opportunity to do so instead by resigning and not applying again.
As a result of a conversation with an ex-lifguard, this morning, she tells me that they are not trained for rescues in dangerous conditions. If they were, they would obviously have to be paid more than the minimium wage they get now. So how about the Town ponying up to send a lifeguard to Malibu to get trained and that person train the guards and then the guards get a decent wage and we get what we thought we were getting all these years proper protection.
All these comments miss the point. Questions of whether the lifeguards are paid enough or not can be set aside for another discussion on another day. All the lifeguards meet the standards of the NLS (National Lifeguard Society). There are additional standards for those who work a waterfront like Victoria Park beach -- different from those for a pool-setting.
The NLS standards take the view that having a lifeguard on duty gives the message to swimmers that it is safe to swim and if they get into difficulty a professional will be able to assist them. There is an implied message, "Go ahead and swim. It's safe."
People do swim after the lifeguards go off duty at 6 p.m.. They do swim before they come on duty at 10 a.m. But they do so "at their own risk."
The lifeguards that day decided it was not safe for people to swim because there was a strong undertow and it was pulling in the direction of the rocks at the east pier (near the Coast Guard buildings).
Do you realize that an undertow is the most common cause of people drowning? That is the one where observers say, "I don't know what happened. He was there swimming then he was gone. We thought he was playing around, going under the water but he never came back up."
The lifeguards were not demonstrating a lack of training or sub-standard training. They were following their training.
If they did not leave the beach after announcing they were doing so because it is unsafe to swim due to the undertow, they would be legally liable (and would lose any suit) because they went opposite to their training.
Part of their training is precisely to make this judgement call.
A firefighter is required to help in a fire but would prefer to prevent fires rather than fight them. They are not required to stand around outside every unmaintained building that is a potential firetrap in case a fire breaks out even though they know it is unsafe, even if they post signs saying the building is unsafe and so people should not enter.
A police officer is required to help in the case of a crime but would prefer to prevent crime to reduce the number of criminals who have to be actively pursued.
A lifeguard is required to assist in the case of a swimmer or boater in trouble in the water. That Sunday, the lifeguards were saying, loud and clear through megaphones, "It is unsafe to swim today due to the undertow. If you go in the water, you do so at your own risk." They left the beach to re-inforce that message, as the NLS training taught them.
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