A new safety programme currently being trialled at Sutherland Leisure Centre will be expanded to include similar facilities at neighbouring Engadine and Caringbah by the end of the year.
Swimguard was developed by resident Matt North, who is a trained lifeguard. He said the aim of the programme which is being trialled for the first time in Australia, is to improve response times and lifeguard recognition times at aquatic centres used by the public.
North explained that lifelike mannequins are used to simulate drowning incidents in an effort to train lifeguards to quickly detect emergency situations.
Lifeguards, he said, will then need to adopt an emergency plan before jumping into the pool to `save’ the mannequin within a time limit of two minutes.
Two aquatic safety experts endorsed the launch of Swimguard at the Sutherland Leisure Centre.
They included See Clearly Now founder Gary Johnson, whose company focuses on minimising drowning incidents (both fatal and nonfatal) in public pool facilities, and Aquatic Safety Research Group founder Dr. Tom Griffiths from the United States. The group has provided risk management and water safety programmes and conducted booklet printing for people around the world.
Dr. Griffiths said that the detection and retrieval of a drowning victim should take under two minutes, because being submerged any longer than that reduces the survival rate dramatically.
The trial, an Australian first, will be expanded to include Caringbah on November 1.
