When it comes to water safety, lifesaving and lifeguarding have different and demanding requirements. Lorna Siggins reports.
See that child jumping on a sibling's back? It is known as 'horseplay', and many adults would regard ducking as a natural activity in a swimming pool. Some might even think the lifeguard a bit of a spoilsport for blowing the whistle to stop the fun.
As for issuing a warning to the parents afterwards or phoning them at home... a bit of an over-reaction or what?
In fact, there's every good reason for a responsible lifeguard to advise close monitoring of a child for several days after such an experience.
'Dry drowning' is a condition that can develop after a casualty's head has been submerged, he or she has taken in water and the airway has sealed as a safety mechanism to protect the lungs.
That safety 'sealing' can prevent resumption of breathing without some emergency intervention.
And then there's secondary drowning, where a small amount of water can seep into the lungs and interfere with normal transfer of oxygen to the blood. It can irritate the air sacs, and the fluid produced by this irritation can slow down oxygen transfer even more. This can take place up to 72 hours after the original ducking.
Then there's the constant risk of spinal injury and head injury among boisterous bathers, crowding on water slides and flumes, aggressive swimmers who may be on some form of narcotic substance... all in all, the lot of the lifeguard is not an easy one, as this reporter discovered on a recent course to improve basic water safety skills.
The course in question is Emergency Response, a new intensive module initiated here by the Royal Life Saving Society's (RLSS) Irish branch.
The RLSS is one of two national organisations here involved in approving lifeguard training - the other being Irish Water Safety (see panel).
Described as a certificate of water rescue competence for staff working in swimming pools, Emergency Response is regarded as an invaluable preliminary to the RLSS national pool lifeguard qualification.
One of the first lessons which we learned is that there is a clear distinction between lifesaving and lifeguarding.
Lifesavers are, by the RLSS's definition, trained bystanders who respond to an emergency, usually acting alone or enlisting the help of onlookers, rather than acting as part of a team.
Lifeguards are team members who are trained in accident prevention, rescue and first aid.
The clear message was that if we survived the intensive weekend training with Suzanne Doyle of Connacht Safety School at the Connemara Coast Hotel in Furbo, Co Galway, we might make successful lifesavers, but lifeguarding was another matter entirely.
Originally from Ballymun in Dublin, Doyle comes from a family of swimmers and has been a lifeguard since she was 16. Her mother, Mary Doyle, reared nine children and still found time somewhere to teach her to swim and waterski.
The weekend began on a Friday evening with theory. Most of the participants on this particular course were students in their mid to late teens or early 20s, with minds on summer employment.
The theory is set out clearly in an RLSS manual, The Lifeguard, which was developed in conjunction with the British Institute of Sport and Recreation Management.
As the manual notes, there is no such thing as a typical swimming pool, and the development of flumes, chutes, wave-making machines, jetsprays, geysers and waterfalls has made it much more challenging in terms of safety.
One of the most obvious hazards is the slippy floor surface, which explains why many mop-carrying lifeguards are not actually being exploited as pool cleaners.
The biggest risk of diving into shallow water is spinal injury, followed by neck and head injury, and anything 1.5 metres/5.5 feet or below is not safe for this activity, Doyle told us.
Bathers trying to swim distances underwater or trying to dive to the floor of deep pools can often lose consciousness without warning.
There's always the risk of a stroke or heart attack among older swimmers. And then there's the self-appointed teacher - the adult teaching youngsters new skills, some of which may be very hazardous.
Lifeguards have to develop keen skills of tact and diplomacy, we learned, and pools should have safety operating procedures, known as normal operating and emergency action plans.
Any organisation which employs more than five people must have a written policy on health and safety.
Child protection is now also part of the lifeguard's brief, according to RLSS guidelines, and he or she should report any signs of abuse and/or respond to a child's disclosure of same.
Then there are the more frequent instances of neglect, where parents will leave their charges unsupervised in the children's pool and head off to do a few lanes or bask in the sauna or hot tub.
The theory continued on Saturday morning, but was then broken up with first aid training on dummies and several pool sessions to practise rescue techniques.
Having taken first aid as part of a yachtmaster's certificate some years back, I thought I might remember a bit more than I did about the basics of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) - the ABC being airway, breathing, circulation - while the recovery position had also changed somewhat since I was given first instructed on it.
As Doyle pointed out, much of the first aid and the rescue techniques require constant practise. Any competent employer will ensure pool staff members are given adequate time for regular training.
Pool work ranged from applying land-based and throwing rescues to wading and swimming to casualties.
The extended tow, where the lifesaver takes hold of a person's chin and uses a backstroke or sidestroke kick to pull the casualty in to safety, really only works with a co-operative or unconscious 'victim'.
The hip support tow, which requires grasping the casualty across the chest or waist and swimming sidestroke, is best for panic situations. When he or she is twice your size, it can be something of a struggle to keep the head above water, let alone develop any speed!
The image of the derring-do hero diving in to save a life is all very well in films; indeed, a shallow dive is the fastest way to reach a casualty. However, it has several disadvantages - you can lose sight of the person in difficulty, and you may risk exacerbating their injury if there is such a risk.
Conscious casualties, on the other hand, may try to grab you before the rescue, and this requires quick-witted action to ensure that it isn't a fatal grip.
Recovery of victims with suspected spinal injury was a vital part of the course, and one which our examiner, Ruth Meade, went through with us on Sunday.
The World Health Organisation says that for every person who drowns, an additional four are hospitalised for near-drowning problems.
"Think court," both Doyle and Meade warned us, pressing home the vital importance of a correct and careful response.
A recent High Court case involving a young man who is in a permanent vegetative state after an accident at Cork's Leisureworld pool was a sober reminder of risks.
Some 48 hours after we first met Doyle and her poolside dummies, and with muscles already aching from the ordeal, we were informed that we had all passed.
Several participants who took the full lifeguard pool test also qualified.
The RLSS certificate arrived in the post within a fortnight, and is valid for two years - when we will be expected to run through the entire course, complete with CPR routines, reach and rescue and recovery tows, all over again.
Training courses
Lifesaving and lifeguarding courses are run by trainers accredited with Irish Water Safety (IWS) and/or the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS).
Both organisations are affiliated to the International Lifesaving Federation,which also recognises other European qualifications - hence the increase in Eastern European, South African and Brazilian lifeguards being employed in Irish swimming pools.
The RLSS has developed a series of intensive courses for both water and land safety in recent years - such as Emergency Response,which can cost up to €300 for the weekend.
The IWS is examining the feasibility of running more intensive courses, but currently runs 41 different water safety courses over more prolonged periods and can barely keep up with demand. Witness the large number of teenagers out early on a Sunday morning in Galway's Leisureland, eager to acquire the skills.
Intensive courses are invaluable for those who want to acquire the skills but aren't in a position to give the time commitment to extended training and can afford the alternative. By contrast, the less intensive course, which usually involves a large voluntary training input, is cheaper and allows for adequate time to repeat procedures and imprint them on one's memory before examination.
The IWS is currently encouraging swimming pool managers to install automated external defibrillators (AEDs), but also says that one of its greatest challenges is to encourage the public to swim in open water again. "When people lack open water confidence and have little or no tolerance to cold shock, this can lead to inhalation of water, a stroke, heart attack and drowning," says IWS chief executive Lieut Cdr John Leech.