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Developing Quality Lifeguard Services Why it is important to select the best qualified candidates for lifeguard positions. By Paul G. Daniels The development and maintenance of quality lifeguard services never happen by chance. Initially, lifeguard applicants must be selected for employment on the basis of personal and professional merit. This must involve an efficient applicant screening process designed to expose professional. psychological, and physical inadequacies. Applications: Screening processes begin with the evaluation of completed lifeguard application forms. As many as possible should be collected and reviewed. Application forms need to be designed to reveal pertinent information such as biographical data. First Aid certification expiration dates, Lifesaving certification expiration dates, Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation certification expiration dates, past experience related to lifeguarding, and availability for work. This information provides the basis for selecting specific applicants to undergo further evaluation. See Lifeguard Interview Comment Sheet at right.
Interviews: Interview processes should generally center around an oral review of the data provided by completed application forms and the use of an "Interview Comment Sheet."The inspection of current certificates as well as a verbal review of past experience is also in order. Discussing several broadly based questions designed to reveal personal attitudes related to lifeguarding can provide additional input. Examples of such questions follow: 1. As a lifeguard, what should be your most important consideration at all times? Why? 2. As a lifeguard, what do you think your responsibilities to the public and to our administration will be? Answers to questions asked at the interview should support a positive attitude toward the public, the administration, the profession, and should reflect the utmost concern for public safety. Mental stability on the part of the applicant should be diagnosed as well as is possible throughout the interview. Testing: Three types of testing processes are desirable in evaluating selected lifeguard applicants: objective, subjective, and practical. Objective questions should be composed of true/false, matching, and multiple choice questions covering technical aspects of lifeguarding. Subjective questions should be situational type essays focusing on more general concerns. Practical testing involves the use of an aquatics facility and requires the assistance of a large "victim" qualified to assist with the evaluation of defenses, releases, carries, and other lifeguard skills. Practical test evaluation checklists can add uniformity to practical testing procedures and also serve as a test result record sheet to be filed with other competed test forms, applications, and applicant reference materials. See Practical Test Evaluation Checklist on next page. In the event that not enough applicants exercise acceptable standards of performance, more applicants must be solicited. If necessary the administration should conduct life- Illinois Parks and Recreation 21 May/June 1983 guard training/retraining courses. Alternative test forms should be available for retesting applicants after remedial exercises have taken place. After evaluating and hiring new lifeguards, each should be trained as to the specific responsibilities other, his new job. A "packet" or notebook of policy outlines, rescue procedures, administrative details, and other related materials should be presented to each new guard. Tours, introductions, and demonstrations will help them adjust to their new work environment. Pre-service training sessions should always be conducted prior to opening aquatics facilities. Accountability: Death by drowning or other serious injury is most likely to occur when administrative inefficiencies affect the quality of lifeguard services. Liability prosecution likewise becomes an ominous threat to lifeguards and the administration. Administrative inefficiencies likely to negatively affect lifeguard services include inefficient hiring techniques, lack of or poorly administered lifeguard Pre-Service/In-Service Training programs, poor management practices, and poor lifeguard morale. Pre-Service/In-Service Training:
Lifeguards should be physically fit, informed about new developments within the professional field, and ready to handle emergency situations effectively. Regularly scheduled training sessions can provide lifeguards with the training and incentive necessary to maintain these efficiencies. In addition, training programs provide a unique opportunity for communications to take place between lifeguard staff members and the management. Management Practices: When every effort is not made by the administration to support lifeguard personnel, the related lifeguard service suffers. Schedules must be acceptable, communications must be maintained constantly, and unacceptable lifeguard practices must be eliminated. Staff members should be given the flexibility to handle specific situations as they see fit within general parameters established by the administration. Lifeguard Morale: Honesty, sincerity, hard work, respect, sufficient pay, and communications are the key elements for maintaining good morale among lifeguard staff members. The administration is responsible for "setting the stage for good will," while the lifeguard staff must be expected to respond. Without the proper framework, a lifeguard service cannot operate effectively. Lifeguards need to be at all times aware of related responsibilities, and able to handle them effectively. This can be accomplished only through the implementation of effective administrative techniques and practices.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paul Daniels received a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education in 1975, and a Master's Degree in Recreation Administration in 1978 from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. Past professional positions include: Elementary School Teacher in Fort Scott, Kansas; Youth Recreation Director in Carterville, Illinois; Administrative Assistant in Aquatics at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois; and for the past two and one-half years. Recreation Supervisor for the Madison Metropolitan School District in Madison, Wisconsin. Illinois Parks and Recreation 22 May/June 1983 |
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