Reform Canadian Aquatic facilities

PLEASE: Forward this to all your friends and e-mail a signed copy to oldsdidsbury.threehills@assembly.ab.ca

My sister lost her son due to the low numbers of lifeguards on gaurd. He was only 8 years of age. Please keep in mind this is to save your kids and yourself and family from going through this too.

To my Honorable MLA in protest;

We need your help and assistance. Recently we have been made aware of the policies outlined by The Lifesaving Society, with regards to the recommended ratio of lifeguards to bathers within public aquatic facilities. Currently, as there is no official legislation, these are the recommendations for all public aquatic facilities.The following chart shows their recommendations:

Number of Bathers Number of Lifeguards
1-75.................................1
75 -150..............................2
151-275..............................3
276-400 .............................4
401-550..............................5
551-700..............................6
701-1000.............................7

Note: These numbers were developed at the time when a typical public aquatic facility was a single rectangular swimming pool, usually 10m to 13m wide by 25m long (approx. surface area of 250m2 - 350m2). Most new pools do not conform to this basic shape and also most new pools include a separate jacuzzi pool, a separate wadding pool and waterslide facilities. In many cases the above ratios are not adequate to provide effective supervision for all users within the aquatic facility.

This puts all bathers at an unnecessary risk. We need to enhance public safety at our aquatic facilities.There needs to be legislation governing the operation of these facilities and the lifeguard to bathers ratios. The current guidelines have not been changed since 1985.

Please commit to prioritizing public safety at our aquatic facilities.
Name (Signed): _______________________________________________________________________

Name (Printed): ________________________________________________________________

Phone: (_______)________________________

Information gathered from web site www.lifesaveing.org