For many, summer is synonymous with swimming. But for rescuers, it especially means a revival of activities. In order to ensure safety in swimming pools, training exists, both for swimmers and for bain guards.
Currently, those interested in becoming a swimming pool supervisor have to spend a first aid lesson, as well as the Pro Pool patent from the Swiss rescue company. A Swiss patent of Guarde-Bain, proposed by the association of French and Ticino swimming pools (APRT), will also soon complete this training.
“We learn to save people, get out of the water of people in difficulty and, in the event of a heart discomfort, to do the necessary massages,” explains Marco Fernandez, vice-president of the APRT, in the morning of the RTS. This training, which will be available from September, also has a human and social dimension, notably teacher in the management of “incivility, de -escalation, without forgetting the bobology to treat a child who was injured”, specifies Marco Fernandez.
Individual responsibility
However, the presence of the Bain guards does not replace individual responsibility. Children under the age of eight, for example, should not go alone to the swimming pool, according to the standard set by the APRT. “We start from the principle that at eight years old, there is a capacity for discernment,” says Marco Fernandez. “We set this age low enough to leave a little more flexibility”.
Certain swimming pools are however more restrictive and fix the age at ten years, while others even impose children to have passed the aquatic security course (CSA) of the Swiss rescue company to be able to come alone.
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Below the age or conditions required, children must be accompanied by an adult. “We can have people with reduced mobility, with mental disorders or who do not have the necessary capacities,” said Marco Fernandez. “We start from the principle that everyone knows whether or not to accompany a person”.
>> Listen to the early morning details:
Risk behaviors
Caution is also in place in lakes or rivers, where there is an increase in rescue operations. In Geneva, for example, volunteer rescuers carried out more than 500 interventions last year. According to Vittorio Foglia, president of the Geneva rescue company, “there have always been somewhat dangerous and not very thoughtful behaviors”, but their number has increased in recent years due to more and more scorching temperatures.
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“Each water point, whatever it is, will be requested,” he says. “We are going to have an influencing of people who will, by all means, try to refresh themselves, put ourselves in the water and sometimes in places which are not at all suitable for swimming. And this is where the dangers increase”.
Vittorio Foglia therefore calls for an increase in the workforce of rescuers, “whether volunteers or professional”.
>> Ecouter the Interview De Vittorio Foglia:
Subject Radio: Célica Bertholet
Web adaptation: Emilie Délétroz