Safety standards improve in aquatic facilities

The Royal Life Saving Society - Australia's newly released State of the Aquatics Industry 2011 report shows that the number of facilities choosing to undertake the recurring Aquatic Facility Safety Assessment (ASFA) has grown from less than 2% in 2010, to almost 10% in 2011.

While the assessments are not mandatory, it is anticipated that an increase in recurring assessments will have a positive impact on the overall standard of safety across the industry.

This growth shows that an increasing number of aquatic facility owners and operators want to comply with necessary safety standards. The results show an average of compliance in the AFSA of 83.6% in 2011, demonstrating a continually improving standard of safety across the industry.

The 2011 State of the Industry report from the Royal Life Saving Society Australia (RLSSA), analyses the performance of the Australian aquatics industry in safety assessments conducted in the year to 31st March 2011, also unveiled that in 16% of aquatic facilities not all lifeguards held current qualifications. Without the correct qualifications, lifeguards lack the knowledge and skills to recognize and respond to an emergency.

RLSSA National Manager - Aquatic Industry Services Matthew Griffiths explains "operators should be genuinely concerned of the possible ramifications should something unforeseen occur in their facility and it was found that the Lifeguard on duty was not qualified."

In-service training was also highlighted as an issue with more than 20% of facilities failing to undertake the minimum recommended amount of in-service training for pool lifeguards.

Here Griffiths adds "lifeguard training is fundamental to the safety of an aquatic facility and makes a significant contribution to effective supervision, emergency response and the understanding and implementation of a facility's policies and procedures."

Signage is also an area that needs to be addressed across the industry with rates of compliance more than 12% lower than the 2011 average. Signs are a common safety feature in aquatic facilities used to assist pool lifeguards and managers in providing safe environments and ensuring safe behaviors. One of the greatest areas of concern was chemical signage which in most cases is a legislative requirement.

Despite a mean compliance of 89.3% regarding supervision-related items, 20% of facilities were unable to provide evidence of proper consideration regarding the deployment of lifeguards.

This is of concern to Griffiths, who adds "the initial positive result in supervision-related assessment items is largely reflective of the assessor's observations as to what is happening whilet they conduct their inspection. When we look into the systems that are in place outside of those times we often find there is little documented evidence of policies, procedures or risk assessments."

RLSSA believe it is evident that regional and remote facilities may be at a disadvantage with evidence of a decrease in compliance with increasing distance from major cities. This may be influenced by a number of factors including the seasonal outdoor nature of regional and remote facilities affecting the continuity of operations. Regional and remote facilities should however be encouraged by the results of facilities undertaking recurring assessments as they demonstrate an ability to significantly improve compliance by working with Royal Life Saving through the AFSA process.

For more information regarding the Aquatic Facility Safety Assessment contact:

ACT - 02 6260 5800 - Royal Life Saving ACT Branch
NSW - 02 9634 3700 - Royal Life Saving NSW Branch
NT - 08 8981 5036 - Royal Life Saving NT Branch
QLD - 07 3823 2823 - Royal Life Saving Queensland
SA - 08 8234 9244 - Royal Life Saving SA Branch
TAS - 03 6243 7558 - Royal Life saving TAS Branch
VIC - 03 9676 6900 - Life Saving Victoria
WA - 08 9383 8200 - Royal Life Saving WA

For more information go to www.royallifesaving.com.au

Image courtesy of Aquapulse.