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Occupational Medicine Advance Access originally published online on November 7, 2005
Occupational Medicine 2006 56(1):6-11; doi:10.1093/occmed/kqi169
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Occupational fitness standards for beach lifeguards. Phase 1: the physiological demands of beach lifeguarding

T. Reilly1, A. Wooler2 and M. Tipton1

1 Department of Sport and Exercise Science, Institute of Biomedical and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 2DT, UK
2 Royal National Lifeboat Institution, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1HZ, UK

Background Although similar standards exist internationally to select beach lifeguards (BLGs), these are generally not based on a task analysis. To reduce the likelihood of drowning, a BLG should reach a casualty within 3.5 min (210 s).

Aim To quantify the physical demands of the most critical generic tasks undertaken by BLGs.

Methods A survey of 91 BLGs identified sea swimming while towing a casualty, board paddling with a casualty, and casualty handling as the most demanding activities. Performance during beach running (200 m), swimming in the sea (200 m), board paddling in the sea (400 m), swimming in a pool (200 m freestyle and 25 m underwater with 25 m return) and simulated casualty handling were measured.

Results The median area at sea patrolled by paddling and swimming was 400 m. The mean 200-m sea swim time was 3.1 min or 188 s (SD = 46 s) and 95% of the BLGs were able to swim 200 m in 3.5 min (n = 22). The mean time to paddle 400 m was 3.8 min or 226 s (SD = 35 s) and 30% of the BLGs were able to paddle 400 m in 3.5 min (n = 23). The 5th percentile paddling speed was 1.38 m/s, therefore, 95% of the BLGs tested should be able to paddle 289 m in 3.5 min.

Conclusions If only a rescue board is available, the area out to sea patrolled by a lifeguard should be reduced from 400 m to 300 m.

Keywords      Fitness standards; lifeguarding; occupational fitness; paddling; rescue; task analysis

Correspondence to: T. Reilly, Department of Sport and Exercise Science, Institute of Biomedical and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 2DT, UK. Tel: +44 23 9284 2435; fax: +44 23 9284 2641; e-mail: tara.reilly{at}port.ac.uk


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