What's wrong with this picture? (Pool lane lines)

You are correct; it's unacceptable. It is their job to make the pool safe for adult lap swim.  They are getting paid by the hour, so if it's "too much work," that is their problem; they shouldn't make it yours.

You spoke with employees, but did you take it to management?  Start there, and if you don't get satisfaction, let them know you will be taking it on up the line to the mayor if that's what it takes!

Good luck!

I’d bring it to someone’s attention, but not the city council…yet. They likely have issues much more pressing than lane lines in a city pool. Start with the lifeguard (which you already did) and work your way up “the food chain” until you get a proper response and reaction. Hopefully you’ll get results well before the city council’s involvement. Good luck.

Dan

Yeah, I was actually joking about the mayor!  Taking it up the chain of command was my point as well.

Thank you both for replying! It's a small town so the progression is pretty steep. A few local staff (that I spoke with) > city parks director (which is vacant right now) > city council member responsible for that area.

I was trying to think of what to say to a non-swimmer that would illustrate why the lane lines were unacceptable. To a non-swimmer, the picture doesn't look that bad, after all you can just swim around the curves! I eventually emailed the note below. If you think of anything I missed, please let me know since I'll be following up.

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It's difficult to be completely aware of your environment when swimming. Your hearing is muffled, and your vision is often focused either straight down to the bottom of the pool (crawl) or up to the sky (backstroke), with brief glimpses to the side to breath. Properly installed lane lines reduce waves from other swimmers, which helps you breath in air instead of water, help keep people from plowing into each other, and help avoid hitting the wall headfirst while doing backstroke. (The red buoys indicate you're getting close to the wall.) Even for good swimmers, it's easy to get disoriented in the water.

Lane dividers that are too wide or not straight are a safety issue. It's easy to do a turn and accidentally push of the wall at an angle, and coming up under or between two lines would be very startling. After a turn is also when you most feel the need to draw a breath and not a good time to be entrapped between two lane lines. It's also super painful to hit a lane line with your hand or foot while pulling or kicking.

So, lane lines are needed for lap swimming, and they need to be reasonably straight, and single lines rather than double.

Actually, imo, doubled up should not present much of an issue as long as they are TIGHT. Loose ones are the ones that will bite you. And it doesn’t take that much effort to wrench the ones that have been moved over from the open area. However, doubling them up will narrow the overall width by approximately 8-12 inches (2x the diameter assuming 4-6” diameter per lane line). 

Oh that makes sense.  Thank you Jim.

And if you’re sharing the lane with another swimmer that’s significant. And I think we’ll all agree that hitting them with your hand painful, and can cause injury.

Dan

Terrific point.  Thank you.

I work a few hours in a part-time position as a lifeguard at the pool where I swim. I just want to point out, which I’m sure you all realize, that moving the lane lines isn’t any great task. We have to move them back and forth for various classes…like water aerobics, family open swim, etc., and lap swim sessions. It’s part of the job! In a six lane pool (like the one pictured) it takes us all of about five minutes or less to move three of the lines to open up half the pool. Those lifeguards have nothing to complain about. Do your job!!!

Edited to add…think of having the lane lines properly clinched up and not obtrusive as a safety mishap preventative. As previously mentioned…hitting them can be quite painful, and potentially cause an injury in the form of broken fingers/hand, possible lacerations, etc. And of course in the injury mishap report submitted by the victim, the cause of the injury would have to be stated.  Personally, I’d rather deal with the lane lines than administering first aid that could have been prevented. — Dan

The only issue I see here is the loose lane line on the left.   Remember that double lines or even triple are commonly used for competition. 

Tightening the line is easy and takes little time so to get a response that it’s too much work to do that is not acceptable. I agree.  It just takes a few more turns on the wrench and takes no special skills, just a worker who isn’t entirely lazy.  

That response, from a risk management perspective (my job) is a red flag.  If the employee attitude is at issue as in this case then what other safety issues are too much of a burden for them to be bothered with?   Training issues are easily remedied but an attitude about the work is less easily cured.  This individual should not be in a job role that requires any responsibility.