so I'm tired as all get out of the kids in the outdoor pool getting in the lap lanes:frustrated: But that isn't my gripe. Decided that I would go back to the indoor pool today. Our indoor pool has a fairly high-A line type of roof. When I walk into the pool area one of the guards has an electric fan hooked up by an extension cord on the deck (not exactly in water, but water around/close to it) pointing up at him in the guard chair. I question him about the safety of that and his reply was that he was hot. I'm sure it is a lot hotter up in the chair than on the deck, but..... I went to the pool office and looked for the aquatics manager and she was at the other pool. I went up front to find some other management and according to everyone I talked to, no one was in their office. I decided not to swim today. For those of you who are familiar with pool safety, do you think I was over reacting?
Lainey
I don't have any pity on a lifeguard getting hot.
I was a lifeguard in college. Outdoors. In the winter. Granted, it was a Los Angeles winter, but it still felt frickin' cold! Spent most of my breaks in the shower trying to heat up. I'll take hot any day. At least you can swim on your breaks to cool off...
Skip Montanaro
I would not sweat electrical issue.
As for the guard being hot (temperature wise I mean), it's pretty hard to tell somebody that it's not hot and that it must be in their head. The indoor pool I used to swim at was notoriously hot and stuffy. I can certainly understand why a guard might want a fan at an indoor pool.
Not to side with the guards, or this particular one as it wasn't a smart move, but having been a pool supervisor throughout all my college years, and to attack the root cause of the problem...... you may want to express your concern for the guard's well being :rolleyes: and management's control over this so that their staff can concentrate and continue to do "a good job" (being overly diplomatic in this case). It's the manager's responsibility and they first need to train ALL the aquatic staff on electrical safety esp around water (as I've seen this with the water aerobics instructors plugging in boom boxes on the pool deck next to puddles of water!) , and then they may need to rotate the guard off stand if even for a few minutes to get into the pool or go get some water. (although if the kid had time to get down and go get a fan plugged in....) Who knows, maybe their supervisor has allowed and/or suggested this as a possible solution to the guard for being too warm on the deck.....
Oh in my roundabout way, I think my point was that a better ventilation system would both help the lifeguard stay cool safely and protect swimmers as well, a win-win situation. But probably should have made myself clearer on this aspect.
Must have been that "hot" lifeguard distracting me, heh! :D
Noodlers or not,air quality in the pool is something they should be worried about.I was just reading an article on pool air. If the air isn't circulated well the risk of asthma and other breathing problems is much more of a hazard than electric shock.:notworking:
I can understand the guard being hot too, but isn't that kinda part of the job... sitting or standing in the hot sun or under an umbrella, or on a guard chair in a stuffy indoor pool?
Geek is going to love this! When our pool was remodeled several years ago they increased the size of the exhaust fan (which wasn't on today) at the end of the building and put in 6 roof ventilaters. The darn room drew like a chimney... hair would fly in the indoor air currents. After about a month of the noodlers and mother/baby classes complaining about the breeze because they were cold, the roof ventilaters were permamently closed.
Lainey
They boot us out of our indoor pool if they see lightning...the likelyhood of lighting finding it's way to the pool building then through a window into the water is or whatever is low. They empty us out though for fear of "liability" (thanks lawyers).
"Lightning and Aquatics Safety: A Cautionary Perspective for Indoor Pools":
www.lightningsafety.com/.../indoor_pools.html
" National Athletic Trainers' Association Position Statement: Lightning Safety for Athletics and Recreation":
www.nata.org/.../lightning.pdf
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But if it's anything like the facilities I used to work for, they aren't going to go through a capital expenditure repair/upgrade to improve something they considered intangible like the air quality inside the pool......
"Lightning and Aquatics Safety: A Cautionary Perspective for Indoor Pools":
www.lightningsafety.com/.../indoor_pools.html
" National Athletic Trainers' Association Position Statement: Lightning Safety for Athletics and Recreation":
www.nata.org/.../lightning.pdf
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I understand it can happen, but what are the chances out of 100 or 1000 that something wil happen. I mean you can choke on anything you put in your mouth but we eat every day...blessed that we are. I just think if there is a storm fine but when it's miles away from the pool it's a real overreaction. I told the YMCA "I promise not to sue if I'm dead."
