3 Ways to Make Staff Training Realistic

One of the hardest parts of working in the aquatic industry is feeling comfortable with the idea of your staff responding to incidents at your facility. There are so many unknowns and so much opportunity for error. However, with the right training mindset you can help ease some of that worrying by ensuring that your staff are prepared for real-world situations. 

A common misconception is that in-service training time should be dedicated to reviewing and running drills similar to what lifeguards go through in their lifeguard class. The kind of drills where lifeguards make an entry from the side of the pool, go rescue a stationary victim, bring them to the wall and do it all over again. In a lifeguard class, these repetitions help build confidence and muscle memory but they are not realistic to what lifeguards will experience in their every-day life. This article will review some ways to take your training to the next level. 

1. Look at the data - One of the best ways to make your training more realistic is to train for scenarios your staff will see on a regular basis. Look at existing incident, rescue or first aid data and determine what types of incidents are most common. If you don’t currently have an incident or injury tracking system you can easily create one using a spreadsheet. Important data to track is type of incident or injury, response type, and location. Reviewing this data on an annual basis will allow you to plan training for the next season. If your data shows that responsive rescues make up 75% of your total rescues while deep water spinals make up 1% that can give you an idea of where to focus your training efforts. Likewise, reviewing incident location can give you an idea of where to most strategically place staff to prevent incidents from happening in the first place. 

   
   

2. Focus on scenarios, not drills - Scenario based training allows staff to approach situations with critical thinking and problem solving. These skills will directly translate into helping them be better lifeguards who are able to respond to emergencies with speed and confidence. Scenario based training should involve setting up your pool very similar to the way it is set up during normal operations. That will allow your guards to respond to their EAP like they would during a normal shift. Run scenarios multiple times varying the staff involved so that everyone gets a chance to practice the skills and benefit from the learning. Drill-based training is still very important but should mostly be used to reinforce muscle memory, build speed, and improve conditioning. 

   
   

3. Get creative with equipment - There are a ton of different equipment options out there to incorporate into your training. Ruth Lee Manikins are a great substitution for a live patron to help staff work with “dead weight” as if it were a real unconscious person. Utilizing a go-pro or similar waterproof camera during your training will allow you to record training scenarios for a more in-depth debrief. Silhouettes can be utilized to train staff on victim recognition during busy shifts. Get creative with equipment to ensure that training is never boring and staff get a wide variety of situations thrown at them.

Training lifeguards in realistic ways helps staff to respond to real-life situations in a confident and fast manner. Shifting training focus can be daunting but with a few small adjustments you can take your guard staff from good to great!

About the Author

Joey LaNeve is the Aquatics Supervisor for the Town of Queen Creek in Arizona where he has been an integral part of the planning, construction, and operation of this new facility.  His passion is building strong and safe teams and believes that the best lifeguard teams are ones who can rely on and trust each other at every turn. You can reach Joey at joey.laneve@queencreekaz.gov.

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