Should lifeguards be required at public pools?

Data via Minnesota Dept. of Health (Graphic / MPR News)

Minnesota law doesn’t require lifeguards at most public pools, including those in schools. But data from the Minnesota Department of Health suggest that the presence of lifeguards could make a difference in preventing school drownings,” writes MPR News reporter Laura Yuen.

The health department tracks every time emergency medical responders are called to a public pool. Since 2000, lifeguards were more than twice as likely to be on duty in so-called “near drownings” in which a person survived, as they were in actual drownings.

Today’s Question: Should lifeguards be required at public pools?

AndyBriebart

It would be nice to have this debate put into better context. How many happened before that? “Public pool” = school? If so, what are schools doing different? “Public pool” =municipal pool? If so, is it a lack of parenting?

kevins

Well parented children never drownd…..right.
- AndyBriebart
  
  I didnt say that. I was only accounting for the increase.

PaulJ

It doesn’t take a red cross badge holder to realize you can’t have bunches of kids swimming without supervision.

Jim G

Adequate supervision is imperative in school pools. Even when the teacher has a lifeguard certificate, but is working with individual students teaching swimming skills, there should be another adult lifeguard tasked with doing only the job of a lifeguard for the rest of the kids. Drowning according to my Doctor friend, only takes a teaspoon of inhaled fresh water. Once inhaled the osmotic pressure prevents respiration. There are no cries for help. It is a silent death that can be prevented.

AndyBriebart

But the figures shown don’t show what percentage is schools. And if it schools, has is increased and why now?

Jim G

Back in the day, okay… way back in the day… my high-school had a pool and swimming was a required class. There were always two teachers in the pool area. One doing instruction while the other… was tasked with being the Lifeguard. Over the past decade we have had huge cuts in school funding. There have been staffing cuts, but programming and electives are not reduced. Administrators make adjustments… risk assessments are made and the second teacher in swimming classes is cut. The result is higher rates of drowning because the risk for the kids in the pool has gone up.

kevins

As I recall, also way back in the day, there were efforts to use the “buddy system” when swimming as an added safeguard.

Margin of Error

I beg to differ with you on the “huge cuts in school funding” statement.

I do agree that there needs to be adequate supervision, but don’t throw the “cuts” word around like it means anything.

http://www.heritage.org/static/reportimages/37B0D4B940E07C72328A019D1FDB4094.gif

Jim G

Conveniently, the Great Recession years, borrowing from our local districts, and state funding shifts are left out of these inflation ignoring tables. Did you live through the inflationary spiral of the late 70’s and early 80’s? We were always a dollar short and years late in receiving funding.

JQP

the chart accurately reflects changes in “expense” , but it doesn’t reflect changes in costs. the cost components for insurance, transportation, security, building maintenance, equipment and utilities have all gone up as a percent of the budget.

Your high school teachers would be disappointed.

KTN

It seems that if a municipality is too provide a pool for public use, they are pretty much obligated to provide a measure of safety too.

Kim

As I listened to the discussion on the air, one point I took note of is that the lifeguard cannot see clearly what is going on below the surface of the water because of the refraction, commotion, etc. I would like to suggest a possible solution to that problem: closed circuit TV cameras below the surface scanning the whole pool and someone–lifeguard or someone else–monitoring the screens constantly to watch for anything that would indicate trouble.

davehoug

Too expensive to have a lifeguard…….except when MY child is in the pool 🙂

davehoug

When teaching a class, the attention is too fragmented to watch the water 100%. Lifeguard or a buddy system is better than a tragedy.

MPR News Share your insight

Should lifeguards be required at public pools?

About the blogger

Michael Olson