A lack of properly qualified lifeguards at swimming pools, particularly in hotels, has raised concerns over swimmer safety, with pool attendants often being assigned lifeguard duties despite having significantly lower qualifications, according to the Sri Lanka Life Saving (SLLS) organisation’s Secretary P.K. Edirisinghe. Speaking to The Daily Morning, Edirisinghe said that many hotels employ individuals as pool attendants and subsequently expect them to perform lifeguard duties because hiring qualified lifeguards is more expensive.
“The pool attendant and the lifeguard are two different roles. The only job of a lifeguard is to be involved in a drowning, while the pool attendant attends to other duties in the pool. But, most hotels hire individuals as pool attendants and, meanwhile, assign them to work as the lifeguard too. Hiring a qualified lifeguard costs more compared to a pool attendant,” he said.
According to Edirisinghe, some people also take up pool attendant positions despite lacking proper qualifications. He said that he had personally encountered hotel lifeguards who could not swim. “Some are hired out of acquaintance and they are asked to work as the pool attendant and whenever a drowning happens, to try to attend to that too,” he said.
He said that the increasing number of shallow swimming pools may have contributed to the practice, as some hotel managements assume that anyone can enter a shallow pool and rescue a drowning person. “Now, most pools are shallower than four feet. Hence, the hotel management assumes that anyone can just walk and rescue in an emergency,” he said. However, he stressed that even shallow pools can pose a serious drowning risk, particularly to children, heart patients, elderly people, people with disabilities and those suffering seizures. “It is only six inches of water that is needed for a man to die by drowning,” he said.
Edirisinghe added that Sri Lanka produces enough lifeguards annually, but many work as pool attendants while completing their qualifications before going abroad. According to him, around 80 per cent of pool attendants in the country are lifeguards in training.
He also said that identifying pools without properly qualified lifeguards can be difficult because hotels may present pool attendants as lifeguards during inspections.
Edirisinghe raised similar concerns over school swimming pools, saying that swimming coaches often perform lifeguard duties. According to the Education Ministry, 66 of Sri Lanka’s 10,467 schools currently have swimming pools. “Many schools don’t have any lifeguards and it’s the swimming coaches themselves who act as the lifeguard. But, each school should hire a paid lifeguard according to the correct system,” he said.
He urged the need for greater public awareness, noting that the SLLS conducts water-safety programmes for schoolchildren. Life-saving education has also been included in the Grade Five textbook, while SLLS is conducting an awareness programme with the Disaster Management Centre, the Education Ministry and the Tourism Ministry.