Demand leads to creation of the Australian Lifeguard Network

With the aim to keep aquatic and lifeguarding professional in-touch and informed, the Royal Life Saving Society Australia (RLSSA) has launched the Australian Lifeguard Network (ALN).
Driven by Royal Life Saving's National Manager for Aquatic Industry Services, Matthew Griffiths initiative is mindful of websites, blogs, email, Facebook and other new technologies that offer tremendous strengthening and growth opportunities.
Griffith explains "the idea is to bring pool lifeguards together, to share ideas and to really strengthen and develop the lifeguarding industry."
To achieve that, the ALN will provide information and resources for both facility managers and for lifeguards, and to be a vehicle for those associated with lifeguarding to communicate with each other.
Importantly, the ALN will act as a repository for learning materials including print materials, videos, case studies of incidents, activity guides and so on. Members can utilise these resources to maintain a currency of skill, learn new skills, develop teamwork, and develop facility specific knowledge. The ALN blog and the use of social media will keep members updated and engaged with all things lifeguarding.
Training and skills will be central to the ALN.
Griffith states "what we want are safer aquatic facilities, and the best place to start is by equipping lifeguards with better skills to do their job, and equipping facility managers with better training resources.
"This needs to be simple, cost-effective, engaging and done in a way that everyone finds beneficial. The ALN ticks all those boxes and has the potential to be a major component in lifeguard training and activity."
The range of in-service training modules is designed to guide facility managers in the development of training sessions specific to their facility, the importance of which can be seen from a few examples.
Griffiths adds "a pool deck could have either a flat entry into the water or it could have a lip surrounding the pool edge. Many people may not consider the difference but it has a huge impact on how lifeguards need to approach a deep water spinal injury, for example.
"Refining your spinal management procedure to deal with this and ensure all lifeguards working at your facility know that procedure shows the importance of specific facility training."
"And of course, when you start looking into one area, you quickly uncover other areas. You find yourself thinking 'well, if we're going to do this here, why don't we do that over there?'"
Griffiths uses another example: response times, stating "some facilities can get emergency services to them within minutes; for others it can take considerably longer. But what happens during those times? The role of the lifeguards at those two facilities will be notably different. Some lifeguards are going to need to spend a much longer period of time with the patient than at the other facility. Meanwhile, what's happening out on the pool deck when you've got lifeguards engaged with a patient for a long time? Even if it's a short emergency response time, you've got lifeguards away from their normal stations. Lifeguards need to know how a situation is likely to play out. Does their training reflect that need? These are things that need to be considered by each and every facility."
The need for safe pool and aquatic facility operation is obvious. Yet Royal Life Saving's recent State of the Industry 2011 report revealed that more than 20% of facilities failed to meet the 'Guidelines for Safe Pool Operation' (GSPO) requirements in the area of in-service training. How facilities and lifeguards can better understand and implement GSPO is another area where the ALN can help with ALN members able to access GSPO online and view related resources.
One additional benefit of the ALN will be the showcasing of a career pathway to younger lifeguards, many of whom may not have considered the aquatics industry as a career.

http://www.australianlifeguardnetwork.com.au