New standards from the National Lifesaving Society, which lowers the acceptable ratio of swimmers to lifeguards from 75-1 to 40-1, will see cities such as Edmonton start to hire more staff to meet the guidelines.
According to a report in Metro Edmonton, standard modifications were necessary because of changes in how pools are built (e.g. aquatic environments with slides, lazy rivers, tipping buckets, and climbing walls); therefore, to keep up with standards, the city will look to hire approximately 56 new people at each of its facilities at a cost of $2.5 million next year.
“Those bather-to-lifeguard ratio standards were set many years ago, in an industry where it was often a 25-m, six-lane, concrete pool,” said chief administrative officer of the society’s Alberta branch, Barbara Costache in the report.
The new people will go above and beyond the staffing requirements the city will need for new recreational centres, added Judith Rohovie, director of some of the city’s largest recreation centres.
According to Rohovie, the city is not expecting any problems filling the positions when they start hiring after the budget is approved; the hiring reflects a 16 per cent increase to the city’s current lifeguard staff.
