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Nation Sweats Lifeguard Shortage
Written by Stephanie Kriner, Staff Writer, RedCross.org
May 18, 2001 —
Last March in Huntington Beach, Calif. — the heart of surfin' USA — seven prospective lifeguards had to be rescued during tryouts. The city ended up short by about a dozen lifeguards, and as summer began, staff stayed at their posts as long as 70 hours a week to allow beach goers to continue swimming safely.
Then the Santa Monica chapter of the American Red Cross held "Lifeguards Wanted," an event to promote the need for lifeguards. The Red Cross signed attendants up for swimming and lifeguard classes, and the city took applications from qualified swimmers. The event was highlighted by the attendance of cast members from NBC's "Baywatch," who were available to sign autographs. The resulting second lifeguard tryout required no rescues and filled Huntington Beach's empty slots.
Across the United States, communities like Huntington Beach are pushing to prevent a second season of "No Lifeguard on Duty" signs and early pool closures. But with summer fast approaching, hundreds of pools and public beaches have yet to fill their lifeguard stands.
"The current lifeguard shortage around the country may create a public safety crisis if pools and aquatics facilities continue to operate without enough lifeguards on duty," said American Red Cross water safety expert Connie Harvey, a certified Red Cross lifeguard. The American Red Cross — the leading lifeguard training organization in the country — is working with communities to recruit more lifeguards, and prevent another shortage.
The program, "Lifeguarding: A Job So Hot, It's Cool," is a nationwide campaign to promote the need for lifeguards. Throughout the nation, Red Cross chapters are holding open houses, aquatic training schools, job fairs and other special events to educate their communities and encourage more young people to become lifeguards. Olympic swimming gold medallist Misty Hyman is serving as a celebrity sponsor of the campaign.
So far, the program has proven a success. In northeast Pennsylvania, for example, the Wayne Pike Chapter of the Red Cross sponsored an aquatic school, training more than 90 lifeguards in two weeks.
Shortage Result of Several Factors
There are several reasons for the lifeguard shortage, including competition from better paying and less strenuous jobs, fear of skin cancer and too few qualified swimmers, according to employers at pools and beaches.
In New York City, the shortage is blamed on a general decrease in people who participate in swimming classes at all levels. To prevent this problem and prepare younger generations for lifeguarding, the American Red Cross designed GuardStart, for 11- to 14-year olds interested in eventually becoming lifeguards. The age requirement for receiving a lifeguard certificate is 15.
An increase of aquatic amusement parks, with multiple attractions such as waterslides and wave pools that require huge lifeguard staffs, is also blamed for the shortage. The number of water amusement centers across the United States has more than doubled in the past five years to exceed 900, according to the World Waterpark Association.
As the demand for lifeguards increases, the rate of people being certified has remained constant, according to the Red Cross, which has trained an average of 190,000 lifeguards annually over the last few years.
In addition to promoting the need for more lifeguards, the Red Cross is warning swimmers of the potential safety hazards at unsupervised pools and beaches. "As a safety standard, parents and guardians should check to be sure that there is a lifeguard on duty and families should always swim in a supervised area," Harvey said.
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