Do any of you across this great land swim at a YMCA indoor facility that does NOT automatically close the pool whenever there are thunderstorms in the area?
Two of our three practices this week have been cancelled because of thunderstorms.
On another thread, someone posted how the total number of deaths from indoor pool electrocutions during thunderstorms--in the history of the world--total precisely zero.
I have made this argument endlessly to our Y authorities, all to no avail. Two university pools--Pitt and CMU--do NOT close their indoor pools because of lightning and, in fact, find the concept chortlesome.
If you do swim at a Y pool with a more enlightened policy, can you send word as to how you got your aquatic staff to override the (misguided) national YMCA policy about this?
Signed--
Slowly desiccating in Sewickley, Pa
I remember a local USA-S outdoor swim meet in progress when a t-storm arrived. It was iffy most of the day; but halfway through a heat of the 200 IM the front blew in. Winds were gusting over 60mph, it started pouring rain, lots of lightning and thunder.
One of the fastest girls in the heat kept going after the other girls stopped. So an official stuck a big long metal pole in her lane to let her know the meet was stopped due to lightning... ?!
The school pool in my area and our club's policy is to not swim during t-storms. However, the private health club I belong to doesn't care as long as we keep up on our payments.
I have the same problem at my Y. They are quick to close at a rumble of thunder off in the distance. The kids I coach don't like having to miss practice. That is why I have started encouraging those who are members to come swim in the morning on their own on days we are supposed to have storms. Then if we get kicked out the Y has to put up with us in the weight room.
The aquatic center where I train stays open unless the storm is directly over head.
this policy is nonsense, as are most lightning/swimming policies.
ever been pulled out of the water to wait out a passing storm sitting in an open boat? yeah.... thats safer.
there is a greater chance of being struck by a lingering piece of skylab scrap metal than there is being struck by lightning in a pool..... indoors or outdoors.
A lifeguard out our Y thought she heard thunder coming from a huge smoke cloud from a wrecked tanker truck on the highway. I told her it was smoke, but she still closed the pool for 30 minutes.
Our big Y has the golf course lightning system, which measures the electrical charge in the atmosphere. Once it reaches a certain number, the pool closes. I've seen lightning bolts in the area and the Y stayed open with this system. I'm sure it's expensive, but worth it in my opinion.
Our local Y has amended the policy to give some discretion the matter. Generally, if the thunderstorm is severe or if cloud to ground lightning is blasting away the guards will close. However the occasional flashes do not necessarily close the pool.
The guard once told me he wasn't sure of the policy and asked me if he should close the pool. I said there was no problem keeping it open (what else was I going to say; my workout was not done).
I always thought it was curious that they close the pool but do not clear the showers. You would think that regardless of the water source if its a problem, its a problem.
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TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET! EVERYBODY OUT!
Someone asked how long we needed to stay out.
"Thirty minutes till there are no more rumbles of thunder," she said.
It was 3:30. The Y closes at 4--"summer hours."
James,
The "rumbles" were probably coming from her stomach. She was just hungry and couldn't wait any longer. Next time bring your lifeguard a :cake: snack or move out west. We are rarely interrupted by the weather. 'Sides, we'd compliment each other well on a relay together.
:chug:
I live and swim outdoors a couple miles from a pretty large Air Force weapons testing and training site. There are still times I (and any lifeguards) can't tell the difference between actual thunder and the AF just blowing stuff up again.
There is no downside to this policy, however misguided it may be at times.
So they close the pool for 30 minutes. Total cost to them, basically zero (i.e., what a life gaurd gets paid to do nothing for 30 minutes)
If through some freak accident something DOES happen, and people are in the water and get killed or injured, the resulting lawsuits/settlements will cost multiple millions of $.
You do the math.
Except people are safer in the pool than in the shower or outside.If you close the pool and a kid gets killed in the shower how does that help your bottom line.
There is no downside to this policy, however misguided it may be at times.
So they close the pool for 30 minutes. Total cost to them, basically zero (i.e., what a life gaurd gets paid to do nothing for 30 minutes)
If through some freak accident something DOES happen, and people are in the water and get killed or injured, the resulting lawsuits/settlements will cost multiple millions of $.
You do the math.
Of course there is downside, in fact there is ONLY downside. For one, there has never ever been a single death from lightning, never ever. That alone is enough. Second, since there is absolutely no danger, all they are doing is disrupting their customers' workouts for no reason. In fact, this ludicrous constant closure for lightning caused me to quit the Y.
I think it is highly more likely that some noodler will slip and fall scurrying off the deck during a lightning closure and break her hip. Slip and falls are a common cost for gyms, much more than a never-ever-in-recorded-human-history accident that you seem worried about. So, you do the math - zero $ for an event that will never occur versus the likelihood of a slip and fall suit.
