Visual search for drowning swimmers: Investigating the impact of lifeguarding experience

An expert-novice comparison of lifeguard specific vigilance performance

INTRODUCTION

Lifeguards must maintain alertness and monitor an aquatic space across extended periods. However, lifeguard research has yet to investigate a lifeguard's ability to maintain performance over time and whether this is influenced by years of certified experience or the detection difficulty of a drowning incident. The aim of this study was to examine whether lifeguard experience, drowning duration, bather number, and time on task influences drowning detection performance.

METHOD

A total of 30 participants took part in nine 60-minute lifeguard specific tasks that included 11 drowning events occurring at five-minute intervals. Each task had manipulated conditions that acted as the independent variables, including bather number and drowning duration.

RESULTS

The experienced group detected a greater number of drowning events per task, compared to novice and naïve groups. Findings further highlighted that time, bather number, and drowning duration has a substantial influence on lifeguard specific drowning detection performance.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

It is hoped that the outcome of the study will have applied application in highlighting the critical need for lifeguard organizations to be aware of a lifeguard's capacity to sustain attention, and for researchers to explore methods for minimizing any decrement in vigilance performance.

Virtual reality lifeguarding scenarios as a potential training solution for pool lifeguards

BACKGROUND

Ensuring that pool lifeguards develop the skills necessary to detect drowning victims is challenging given that these situations are relatively rare, unpredictable and are difficult to simulate accurately and safely. Virtual reality potentially provides a safe and ecologically valid approach to training since it offers a near-to-real visual experience, together with the opportunity to practice task-related skills and receive feedback. As a prelude to the development of a training intervention, the aim of this research was to establish the construct validity of virtual reality drowning detection tasks.

METHOD

Using a repeated measures design, a total of 38 qualified lifeguards and 33 non-lifeguards completed 13 min and 23 min simulated drowning detection tasks that were intended to reflect different levels of sustained attention. During the simulated tasks, participants were asked to monitor a virtual pool and identify any drowning targets with accuracy, response latency, and dwell time recorded.

RESULTS

During the simulated scenarios, pool lifeguards detected drowning targets more frequently and spent less time than non-lifeguards fixating on the drowning target prior to the drowning onset. No significant differences in response latency were evident between lifeguards and non-lifeguards nor for first fixations on the drowning target.

CONCLUSION

The results provide support for the construct validity of virtual reality lifeguarding scenarios, thereby providing the basis for their development and introduction as a potential training approach for developing and maintaining performance in lifeguarding and drowning detection.

APPLICATION

This research provides support for the construct validity of virtual reality simulations as a potential training tool, enabling improvements in the fidelity of training solutions to improve pool lifeguard competency in drowning detection.

Safety optimization in an accident-prone aquatic context: A qualitative study of drowning risk detection by public pool lifeguards

INTRODUCTION

Drownings occur in French public swimming pools (PCP) in spite ofconstant supervision by qualified lifeguards. This studyhypothesizesthat organizational aspects may affect the mission of pool supervision andtakes a systemic approach that views safety as an emergent property, and drowning as a multifactorial and long-term process that is not restricted to the end of an accidental sequence.

METHOD

We conducted a qualitative survey at four municipal poolsin France based on 30 semi-structured interviews.

RESULTS

The findings revealed that several interrelated elements influence the detection by lifeguards of bathers in distress: (a) their training, their conception of the profession, and the reasons that led them to enter this occupation; (b) their representations of the drowning risk and the evaluation of their ability to perceive such situations; (c) the question of regulation; and (d) the methods of dealing with this framework in daily operations, which involves trade-offs and appropriations at each level of the system.

CONCLUSIONS

In order to identify the most significant influences, it seems relevant:(a) to shift the focus away from these professionals; and (b) to prioritize an analysis of the functioning of the risk management system as a whole, not just critical or post-accident periods. In order to reduce the risk to swimmers, it seems preferable to identify the source of the constraints that weigh daily on lifeguards in charge of pool supervision.The functioning of PSP's is the end result of joint regulation processes likely to influence, positively or negatively, the identified feedback loops. An analysis of the pool supervision can help to identify early warning signs of vulnerability (which can sometimes be acted upon at low cost),identify the practical implications, and makepreventive recommendations.