Cooksey's Lifeguard
and Swim AcademY
GSC- Griffin Sports Club
Opening Duties
For the first lifeguard on duty.
-Make sure you put on your lifeguard uniform before coming to work. That way, the club knows who you are when you arrive.
-You may park in the Griffin Club parking lot or on the street. If you park on the street, make sure you park on the club side of the street. Local residents don't like club-goers to park in front of their house.
-If you are the first lifeguard on duty for the day, get the walkie-talkie and lifeguard binder out of the bin.
-There are two pools at Griffin Club, the Family Pool and the Resort Pool. You will be working at the Family Pool.
-If you are the first guard on duty, conduct the Safety Check. The Family Pool at Griffin Social Club has four bathrooms. Take a quick check inside each if they're unoccupied. Next, walk around the deck and make sure there are no problems. Some things to look out for are glass, trash, messes in general. People eat and drink on the deck and it's quite busy. Things can get messy. If you find a big mess or something broken, call maintenance. Take a peek at and the large one hanging on the wall behind the lifeguard chair to know what you have, always let management know if something is out or broken. Once the deck and bathrooms are in order, the pools are free of debris, you can start lifeguarding.
-Remember, a walkie-talkie has one channel. You can either talk or listen, not both. You do nothing to listen and hold down the button continuously to talk.
-The lifeguard chairs have signs informing people of the lifeguard's absence. They need to be turned around when lifeguards are on duty, and turned back when no lifeguard is watching the pool.
-Take a look at the lane schedule in the binder. Adjust the lanes as needed or call maintenance to help. Putting a line in the pool is hard and is easier to do with one other person. Taking a line out can be done easily by one person. The wrench for the lanes is always on the large first aid kit hanging on the wall.
-Behind the lifeguard chair, there are three large bins on the floor. One is the Lifeguard bin.
-Behind the largest (K-Swim) is a stack of lifeguard tubes. Take one for the day and put it back when you're done. The smallest one is our bin. The combination is SARS. There are a bunch of lost toys in there and some lifeguard equipment you are free to take such as whistles, sunglasses, hip packs.
Closing Duties
-15 minutes to closing, you can start to clean up. The signs need to be put back in place. All the lines should be put back in the pool.
-Please be sure to stay on the pool deck until the end of your scheduled shift.
-Tell any remaining members that there will be no lifeguard on duty, they are free to stay and swim, but they should know you won't be there. If there are any K-Swim classes still going, make sure the K-Swim instructor knows you're leaving.
-Make sure you clean up after yourself and the area around lifeguard stations.
-Enter in all daily numbers into the website.
-Last, deliver the binder, 1st Aid Kit, and walkie-talkie to Patricia's office. Be sure to turn the walkie-talkie off and seat it properly to charge. The light should be solid red.
-Last, put the walkie-talkie and binder back into the bin. Be sure to turn the walkie-talkie off and seat it properly to charge. The light should be solid red.
Daily Duties
You should be on tower no later than 10 minutes before the start of your shift
-Daily number every 30 minutes (# of people in the pools / # of people in the entire facility)
-Parents must be by their small children at all times. If kids are swimming on one side of the pool parents must be close.
-Always remember to greet all members that walk in. Be very polite and give them a smile!
-If not a lot of people are in the pool, and any furniture is out of place with no one is using it, put it back in place. People are free to move the furniture around the deck as they like.
-Throughout your shift, you should help maintenance put dirty towels in the silver towel bins if not a lot of people are in the pool.
-A clean pool is a safe pool. Keeping the pool and deck clean is important.
-Make sure you do a count every half-hour. This helps us with staffing so it's very important.
There are three counts every half hour:
1) All K-swim students and teachers in the water
2) All others in the water
3) the first two numbers plus everyone else on the pool deck
***There is usually at least one lane set aside for lap swim reservations. It is your job to make sure the kids know to stay out of the lap lane while someone is swimming laps. Please be strict on this rule.
***There is usually at least one lane set aside for lap swim reservations. It is your job to make sure the kids know to stay out of the lap lane while someone is swimming laps. Please be strict on this rule.
***Don't ever let kids climb onto the planters and walls around the pool.
K-Swim is a swimming program at Griffin Social Club. It has many classes and students. Many days, the pool will be dominated by K-Swim programs. Once they leave, however, lanes can be removed for the enjoyment of free swimmers.
In the hot tub, tell kids:
1) Keep your head above water in the hot tub
2) No swimming or playing in the hot tub
3) The hot tub is just for relaxing
No eating in the pool. No running. These two are frequently violated rules. Drinking is fine, but no glass.
You are trying to be preventative. Anything that may lead to injury should be stopped.
BE SURE TO NEVER: Talk to other lifeguards for more than 5 minutes at a time. If you are talking to another lifeguard or a member always be sure to face the pool and continue to scan. Be sure to still enforce all rules.
Extra Info
***Frequently, people forget things at the pool. You may put these items on the lifeguard chair and leave them there. You can move them to the top of the gray trashcans near the entrance at the end of the day. Maintenance will take them from there to the lost and found. The lost and found is at the tennis desk if anyone asks.
***If you are working with other guards, make sure they know when you are using the bathroom and coordinate lunches and breaks. There should always be at least one guard on the deck if there is more than one of you. Remember, we are all one team!
***If there is a code brown, a frequent occurrence at Griffin, be sure to walkie-talkie maintenance, clear the pool of people, and help clean it up. Try to find out where it came from and get that member’s information, including full name. You should fill out an incident report.