4 ms·

How long of a shift do lifeguards even have? Because I wouldn't feel confident in being able to observe a bunch of people in a pool for hours for what are quite

by Hamuko 7y ago

How long of a shift do lifeguards even have? Because I wouldn't feel confident in being able to observe a bunch of people in a pool for hours for what are quite subtle clues.

tnorthcutt 7y ago
The lifeguards at my local (city) pool rotate very frequently; I’d say every 15 minutes or so. Their shift is longer of course, but they aren’t sitting observing for more than around 15 minutes at a time.
- SilasX 7y ago
  Semi-OT: it came up in an earlier discussion that the 15 minute rule is common, and makes for better attention fatigue management than Uber has for SDC test drivers. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19373662 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19373662
Waterluvian 7y ago
Not sure this is indicative but at my local pool you can see them switching up between active duty and idling nearby in the hut about every 15 mins.
dahfizz 7y ago
I was a lifeguard at the YMCA, and we would never be on duty for more than 45 minutes at a time unless we were short staffed. You were constantly rotating and given short breaks or small tasks to keep sharp.
hoorayimhelping 7y ago
I was a lifeguard at Disney World (Disney lifeguards work the waterparks, all the resort pools, and the pool and the lake at the private cast member park, Mickey's Retreat) in the late 90s. I believe at the time it was 20 minutes on duty, 5-10 minutes rotating to the next station. There would always be a couple lifeguards rotating in this scheme and they'd able to assist if necessary. It was very boring, and keeping my mental acuity sharp towards the end of shifts was a problem. Take care swimming late in the day. Also, I don't ever swim in public pools anyone. We had to shut down the cast member pool one 4th of July because it was so dirty and so soiled, we couldn't see to the bottom of the deep end (6 feet / ~2m) and it presented a drowning hazard. The pool was closed for like 3 days after that while we waited for the water turbidity to go down.
- zaroth 7y ago
  I think a pool closed for 3 days indicates gross mismanagement of chemical levels, not that contamination in public pools can’t be successfully managed. In theory a public pool under proper management should be cleaner than a private pool which almost certainly isn’t being professionally managed. Chlorine in pH balanced water with the right hardness is surprisingly effective. Pro tip, if you can smell “chlorine” it probably means the pool is dirty and doesn’t have enough chlorine left in the water. The smell is not chlorine in the water, it’s the result of the chlorine burning off as it oxidizes contaminants.
  - dugmartin 7y ago
    Yeah, the smell is from the combined chlorine (choloramines - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramines). After having my own pool for 10+ years if I smell chrloramines in a public pool I won't go it in as it -- likely it is not managed well at all.
qchris 7y ago
I worked as a lifeguard at a lake's swimming area as a teenager, and I think it's a little less difficult than it sounds. It's not like staring out and hoping your peripherals catch something. Guards typically have discrete areas they cover, and within those boundaries you can check for a certain number of people and boundary crossings. By doing things like mentally running through the list/number of people in your area and noting the higher-risk ones, it's a little less mentally taxing than you might think. Combined with some overlap between guard stations and regular rotations between areas, coverage can be pretty good. The real difficulty comes in when you start adding numbers of people- the boundaries become less clear, the number of high-risk swimmers increase, and the total cycle time through everyone you're covering increases such that your margin of error between a situation presenting and your time to react starts decreasing. Anecdotally, I always found the behavior changes from a normal to tired swimmer to be one of the easier parts. Lack of forward motion, intense focus on the activity of swimming itself, falling behind from a group. Again, it's more difficult the more crowded an area becomes.

by Hamuko 7y ago

How long of a shift do lifeguards even have? Because I wouldn't feel confident in being able to observe a bunch of people in a pool for hours for what are quite subtle clues.

tnorthcutt 7y ago

The lifeguards at my local (city) pool rotate very frequently; I’d say every 15 minutes or so. Their shift is longer of course, but they aren’t sitting observing for more than around 15 minutes at a time.

SilasX 7y ago
Semi-OT: it came up in an earlier discussion that the 15 minute rule is common, and makes for better attention fatigue management than Uber has for SDC test drivers. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19373662 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19373662

Waterluvian 7y ago

Not sure this is indicative but at my local pool you can see them switching up between active duty and idling nearby in the hut about every 15 mins.

dahfizz 7y ago

I was a lifeguard at the YMCA, and we would never be on duty for more than 45 minutes at a time unless we were short staffed. You were constantly rotating and given short breaks or small tasks to keep sharp.

hoorayimhelping 7y ago

I was a lifeguard at Disney World (Disney lifeguards work the waterparks, all the resort pools, and the pool and the lake at the private cast member park, Mickey's Retreat) in the late 90s. I believe at the time it was 20 minutes on duty, 5-10 minutes rotating to the next station. There would always be a couple lifeguards rotating in this scheme and they'd able to assist if necessary. It was very boring, and keeping my mental acuity sharp towards the end of shifts was a problem. Take care swimming late in the day. Also, I don't ever swim in public pools anyone. We had to shut down the cast member pool one 4th of July because it was so dirty and so soiled, we couldn't see to the bottom of the deep end (6 feet / ~2m) and it presented a drowning hazard. The pool was closed for like 3 days after that while we waited for the water turbidity to go down.

zaroth 7y ago
I think a pool closed for 3 days indicates gross mismanagement of chemical levels, not that contamination in public pools can’t be successfully managed. In theory a public pool under proper management should be cleaner than a private pool which almost certainly isn’t being professionally managed. Chlorine in pH balanced water with the right hardness is surprisingly effective. Pro tip, if you can smell “chlorine” it probably means the pool is dirty and doesn’t have enough chlorine left in the water. The smell is not chlorine in the water, it’s the result of the chlorine burning off as it oxidizes contaminants.
- dugmartin 7y ago
  Yeah, the smell is from the combined chlorine (choloramines - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramines). After having my own pool for 10+ years if I smell chrloramines in a public pool I won't go it in as it -- likely it is not managed well at all.

qchris 7y ago

I worked as a lifeguard at a lake's swimming area as a teenager, and I think it's a little less difficult than it sounds. It's not like staring out and hoping your peripherals catch something. Guards typically have discrete areas they cover, and within those boundaries you can check for a certain number of people and boundary crossings. By doing things like mentally running through the list/number of people in your area and noting the higher-risk ones, it's a little less mentally taxing than you might think. Combined with some overlap between guard stations and regular rotations between areas, coverage can be pretty good. The real difficulty comes in when you start adding numbers of people- the boundaries become less clear, the number of high-risk swimmers increase, and the total cycle time through everyone you're covering increases such that your margin of error between a situation presenting and your time to react starts decreasing. Anecdotally, I always found the behavior changes from a normal to tired swimmer to be one of the easier parts. Lack of forward motion, intense focus on the activity of swimming itself, falling behind from a group. Again, it's more difficult the more crowded an area becomes.