pretty inside: Berat Tanggungjawab seorang LIFEGUARD

Lifeguards from Hilton Kuala Lumpur and Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur..
Thats my sayang front,right!
Am so proud of him..

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A lifeguard is a person responsible for overseeing the safety of the users of a body of water and its environs, such as a swimming pool, a w ater park, or a beach. This differentiates them from life savers who partake in similar activities as a sport or practical life skill. Lifeguards are qualified strong swimmers, trained and certified in water rescue, using a variety of aids and equipment depending on requirements of their particular venue, and first aid). In some areas, lifeguards may form part of the provided emergency services response to incidents and in some communities, the lifeguard service also carries out mountain rescues, or may function as the primary EMS provider.

Responsibilities

A lifeguard has a given responsibility for the safety of people (and in some cases property) in an area of water, and usually a defined area immediately surrounding or adjacent to it, such as a beach next to an ocean. Their priority is to ensure no harm comes to users of the area for which they are responsible. Lifeguards often take on this responsibility as an employment, although lifeguards can also be volunteers.

The conditions that allow drowning to occur can be summarised by the 'drowning chain', in which each link can lead directly to an incident, or can lead on to the next link, and is shown below.^[1] It consists of people having a lack of education (e.g. about water safety or local conditions), a lack of safety advice (e.g. about rip currents at a beach) a lack of protection (e.g. no floatation device for a weak swimmer), lack of safety supervision (e.g. from a family member or lifeguard) or an inability to cope (e.g. strong surf with a weak swimmer).

The drowning chain provides a clear basis for preventing drowning which includes:^[1]

education and information
provision of warnings
denial of access
supervision
training in survival skills

The lifeguard is able to provide all these elements to help prevent drownings (or other incidents) in their area of responsibility, and for this reason this should be the primary focus of a lifeguard's activities, as it is better to stop an incident occuring than trying to react once it has occurred.^[1] This means that the effectiveness of a lifeguard unit can be measured not the number or rapidity of rescues, or the skill with which they are executed, but the absence or reduction of drownings, accidents, and other medical emergencies.

Of course, lifeguards must be trained, capable and ready to perform emergency rescues should they become necessary, which they may do, as it is impossible to prevent all accidents occurring without going to unacceptable expense. This rescuing is the key focus of popular culture reference such as Baywatch, which was at one time the most viewed show in the world.

Duties

A lifeguard's key duties on a beach (usually as part of a team, but in some places, lifeguards may occasionally be required to work on their own) are to:^[3]

Maintain concentrated observation of the duty area and its users in order to anticipate problems (this will enable the lifeguard to intervene with one of the drowning prevention measures) and to identify an emergency quickly.
Supervise the use of other equipment when allocated to that duty (such as water slides)
Carry out rescues and initate other emergency action as necessary
Give immediate first aid in the event of injury to a bather or other incident
Communicate with bathers and other users to help fulfil the above tasks

Lifeguards may have other duties such as rule enforcement, cleaning (when not directly supervising the area) or acting as a general information point.

Identifying types of swimmer

While performing patron surveillance (usually from an elevated stand or a water-level standing or sitting position) lifeguards watch for and recognize struggling or drowning swimmers, and swimmers with sudden medical conditions such as a stroke, heart attack, asthma, diabetes, or seizures. Proper observation is the key duty of a lifeguard and they look for swimmers in various categories and conditions:

Swimmers who are inactive in the water, submerged or otherwise (Passive drowning victim). When a lifeguard sees this kind of swimmer he performs an emergency rescue.
Swimmers who are taking in water while attempting to stay at the surface (Active drowning victim). Lifeguards look for swimmers in this condition by looking for arms flailing vertically, with the body vertical and no supporting kick. This behaviour is known as the instinctive drowning response^[4]^[5]. Lifeguards perform an emergency rescue to assist this kind of swimmer.
Swimmers who have become tired and are having trouble swimming (Distressed swimmer) and may or may not be calling out for help. Lifeguards usually swim out and help these swimmers to the side. They may or may not require additional assistance.
Normal swimmers (Healthy swimmers).

Equipment

Equipment used by lifeguards will vary depending on the location and specific conditions encountered, however certain equipment is relatively universal such as a whistle for attracting the attention of the public or other members of the team, a first aid kit and rescue aids.

Rescue aids

There is a hierarchy of rescue techniques to be used by lifeguards, in order, which minimises danger to the lifeguard and maximises the effectiveness of a rescue, and this dictates the types of rescue aids that a lifeguard should have available. Not all techniques or equipment will be available to all lifeguards, but all lifeguards should have some equipment to aid rescues.

Reach - The first choice for any lifeguard should be to reach the victim from a position of safety, such as the side of a pool or the beach, using an aid such as a pole or rope. This allows them to stay safe throughout the rescue whilst keeping constant contact with the victim.
Throw - If it is not possible to reach a victim and maintain contact, then the next best method is to throw a floatation aid to them, such as a lifebuoy (also known as a perry buoy) and encourage them to use it to swim to safety. This is most appropriate in a swimming pool and has only limited application outdoors, such as throwing a ring from a pier.
Wade - If neither of those techniques is possible, then a lifeguard should consider wading to a victim, staying standing upright in the water. This will only work in shallow water, so has limited application, but keeps the lifeguard more stable and safer.
Row - Using a personal watercraft to reach the victim, which could include paddle craft such as a surf ski, kayak or row boat, a hand paddled craft such as a long surfboard or in modern times a jet ski or a inflatable boat
Swim with an aid - Only if none of these options are available should a lifeguard consider swimming to rescue a victim, as it creates additional danger for both lifeguard and victim. Aids suitable for this include the well known torpedo tube, which is a hard plastic float towed on a rope attached to the lifeguard, or the soft equivalent, the rescue or 'Peterson' tube, which is flexible and is generally preferred nowadays as it can be clipped around an unconscious or uncooperative victim. Other aids can include a rescue reel which is a rope attaching the lifeguard to a reel on the shore from where he can be pulled back by colleagues either with the victim or if the lifeguard gets in to difficulty.
Swim without an aid - Only as an absolute last resort should a lifeguard attempt a rescue with no equipment

In addition to these basic lifeguarding techniques, some units are trained in additional water rescue techniques such as scuba diving or in rescue techniques unrelated to water rescue such as abseiling for cliff rescue and will carry appropriate equipment for these.

First aid

Lifeguards need to be proficient in first aid, and should always have a well stocked first aid kit available to them. In addition, they may have advanced first items such as medical oxygen, a resuscitator, a defibrillator or AED or a spinal immobilisation board.

Communications

Effective communications are vital for lifeguards and they may choose to use two-way radios, megaphones or even signal flares.

A more traditional method of communication with the public is through the use of coloured flags, which can be raised over permanent or temporary flag poles to inform members of the public of different information.

Transportation

For duty areas over a wide area, such as beaches and lakes, lifeguards may require transport over distance and they may use land transport including pick-up trucks, quad bikes or other off-road vehicle.

They may also use larger water craft such as large rigid or inflatable boats or even hovercraft.