Lifeguard Fired for Trying to Save Man Outside of His Zone
Former Member
Link to the story Florida Lifeguard Fired for Trying to Save Drowning Man Outside of His Zone
"According to the Sun Sentinel, Lopez was approached by a beachgoer who pointed out a man struggling in the water nearly 1,500 feet south of his post.
Instinctively, he ran down the beach to save him. By the time Lopez got to him, he had been pulled to shore by fellow beachgoers.
Following his rescue attempt, Lopez was let go for leaving the area he was supposed to be covering."
Former Member
Wonder why two lifeguards were terminated. Hope it's not because during that time they were keeping an eye on Lopez's zone which was outside their zone. :cool:
I think he did the "right" thing. If more & overlapping posts are needed then it will cost them $$$$, some places will not do this, just basic coverage.
Pretty much says it all.
Agreed. That's a good point.
For all 7 lifeguards, total, to quit or be fired, get offered their jobs back, and refuse I believe shows that there must have been other problems working here. It doesn't seem right that a bunch of 20 year old kids would spend all that time getting trained and then straight up quit in the middle of the summer. It's hard enough for kids to find jobs as it is.
I knew some Ellis lifeguards that worked at a water park. They said it was absolutely awful. They worked 9-10 hours day with a single 30 minute break. In many cases they'd be standing all day unless you were lucky enough to find a rotation that offered a chair. In some positions, you had stand waist deep in water. If you're eyes weren't glued to the pool for a second you'd get in trouble. If your bottom scan wasn't "profound" enough guarding 3" of water in a kiddie pool you'd get in trouble, even if no one was in it. Constant audits as well. Every month Ellis would come through and candidly videotape the guards as an audit. That may have just been the employer, but Ellis was in charge and dictated the rules. I don't see how they can expect lifeguards to keep their focus all day if they're working for 10 hours with one break. I heard it was just miserable working conditions in that case.
So I wonder if these guards had these same intense standards. Most lifeguards I see at the beach don't bottom scan. They just stare at the water and talk to each other. At the lap pools, most guards stare off into space.
My experience with Ellis wasn't bad. It was at a outdoor lap pool owned by the town. There were a lot of audits, compared to my experience with Red Cross. The knowledge training was much more intense, but for the test I had to only swim 200 yards (Red Cross was 400).
I wonder if the town will be resigning with Ellis...
Ellis sets very strong standards, the best in the business IMO (I've managed pools for, and trained guards in both Ellis and ARC facilities).
The issues of too long work hours and not enough breaks are on the facility owners/management. My guards rotated every 15 minutes on hot days and got 15 minute breaks every hour when we were super busy. They needed them to keep of the required level of attention.
