The start of 2017 brought another incremental step within the growth history and success of Poolview Limited.
We have not only added to our fleet of vehicles, but now have employed an additional full time Poolview Engineer to drive this little beauty around the UK, helping to ensure that our after-care service remains at the highest level and matches our partners expectations.
Exciting times!
It has taken us a few years, but we now have our first Poolview Safer Swimmer System installed in Birmingham with a further new build project well under way.
The installation team worked throughout the night last week and completed all the necessary works to this relatively new pool, providing "Additional Essential Vision" for thier Lifeguards.
Our Poolview System is part of a protocol we call "Blended Lifeguarding" wherby we harmonise lifeguarding with technology to improve swimmer safety and increase lifeguard efficieny.
Absolutely delighted to be installing our first Poolview Safer Swimming System for 1Life Leisure Management Company in Wokingham.
First fix works now completed and now ready for final commissioning and then staff training.
Our Poolview System is part of a protocol we call "Blended Lifeguarding" wherby we harmonise lifeguarding with technology to improve swimmer safety and increase lifeguard efficieny.
Just completed a very successful series of site visits in Scotland, building up our network of installations and helping to pave the way for future projects throughout the region.
Fantastic new community pool - not quite ready for the public.
Looking forward to returning next month to present Poolview to an influential network of Leisure Safety Managers within the Central belt.
Two installs in 2 weeks with a 3rd commencing today. Last week we where in West Sussex, on site late Monday evening, preparing to install the Poolview Safer Swimming System in a 25m x 4 lane pool.
With another new addition to our workforce (more about that later), the team made steady but speedy progress.
25m x 4 lane swimming pool in West Sussex
A great start to 2017
Delighted to have commissioned our Poolview Safer Swimming System in a Freedom Leisure operated new build site in Worcestershire.
The gleaming new Leisure Centre looks fantastic with it's clean cut sharp lines and the pool area certainly has an inviting bright and airy feel.
Built by Speller Metcalfe - Architect Archial Norr
I originally posted this in March of last year following a tragic accident in Ireland. As the winter is now really due to set in with a cold snap and further storms which draw us close to water to observe "mother nature", I thought I would re-post and remind everyone of the dangers and how to escape a sinking car if you do get caught.
So once again it is worth watching this video with original footage from ABC News
It could save yours and your family's life!
The Resqme Car Escape Tool you can get on Amazon for just £10 - Hang it from the rear-view mirror!
ResQMe
This is how we leave a swimming pool after completing our first fix "civil works" have been completed - you would be hard pressed to tell that we had been on site at all. Our install team takes great pride in ensuring that everything we do is as inconspicuous as possible.
Just a matter now for the technical team to arrive on site, plug up and switch on!
First fix civil works completed on schedule in Derbyshire
I count myself really lucky in the role I have in Poolview Ltd. I get to travel around the country - visiting swimming pools, talking to Lifeguards, Supervisors, Plant Engineers, Duty Managers, General Managers, Contract Managers, Directors, Architects, Structural Engineers, Water Experts, Manufacturers, Governing Bodies, Drowning Prevention Experts and Technologists, actually the list goes on and on - it’s quite impressive when I write it down and look and realise that I really am blessed to be ‘allowed’ into many of these people’s lives.
What binds us all together (whether some of them want it or not!) is my drive to constantly push the notion of Drowning Prevention Technology (DPT) to support Lifeguards, to maybe somehow stop a tragedy occurring in someone’s pool and avert the heartache for all the unfortunate individuals that may get caught up in the subsequent ramifications.
"It will never happen here"
I have written about how the most effective layer of protection can be added within the pools design - long before a sod of turf has even been cut.
Sometimes though, something happens that makes me stop and think about the ‘BIGGER’ picture, about the importance of each element, understanding that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
What am I getting at here?
Let me elaborate, what if every pool in the country was of an identical design? The best you can get in terms of perfect water, lines of sight, zero glare, the best DPT that exists etc. etc. in other words NO design flaws - No faults - you get my drift? Would outcomes be any different? Fewer fatalities or near misses?
In my opinion - not really, well not significantly.
So what would cause the inconsistency?
You have probably concluded correctly - we do – ‘us individuals’.
Let me put this on record - I’m a fan of the RLSS and always have been. Since I did my Bronze Medallion in 1981 - stumbled into the industry as a Lifeguard without a care or worry in the world!
The RLSS works tirelessly to raise standards, to ensure that the effectiveness of lifeguards with their qualification is second to none in the world. Constantly reviewing and fine tuning the NPLQ, ‘Guarding Lives - Saving Lives’.
So how come when I go into facilities, watch Lifeguards, read NOP’s and EAP’s, talk to management and staff - both on and off record that I hear and see so many inconsistencies?
Any Lifeguard with an NPQL has a brilliant resource behind them - a handbook second to none - almost step by step guidance to cover every eventuality. The Trainer Assessors have an excellent and evolving training package to work from and this coupled with drive and enthusiasm should be producing consistent, effective and excellent highly trained Lifeguards. -
Here is where I think the root of the problem lies – complacency:
“It will never happen here”
“We have never had a fatality”
“No-one has drowned here in 30 years”
“We have it covered - don’t you worry”
All of the above have been said to me personally on my travels (although only on very odd occasions). Thankfully - fatalities in lifeguarded swimming pools are rare events in the UK. Swimming is relatively low risk in the big scheme of things.
You know what though? If you haven’t had a drowning or near drowning, you’re lucky and on the right side of probability - you might be due one. So Lifeguards need to stay alert, be well drilled and trained, TOTALLY conversant with their NOP’s and EAP’s, understand the consequences of ‘bad lifeguarding’ and of course have the complete support of management. It’s difficult to beat an enjoyable, productive and inclusive series of staff training sessions?
There is by their very nature a greater exchange of best practice and continuity of standards amongst the larger ‘private’ leisure operators – how best to share these benefits between individual authorities is something to consider – cluster groups maybe?
We as an industry need to find a method of exchanging “near miss” information. In this way, we can keep the “It will never happen here” thoughts pushed firmly to the back. Again, this is where I am very fortunate. I get to hear on my travels many many “near miss” stories – these actually form the back bone of my Poolview training sessions – they are real and help push the message home to unsuspecting lifeguards.
We shouldn’t perhaps just let out a sigh of relief after a “near miss”, should we have a forum to “share lessons learned” or the “cause”? To make it REAL
Becoming a Lifeguard by passing an exam is only the start of a journey. The hardest and most important lessons learned comes from participation in different situations. The things we learn in real-life can never be learned from only books.
Surely Lifeguards can only benefit from hearing about “actual” incidents which really happened, how they unfolded and what the subsequent consequences were?
I remember being at a seminar session a few years ago which focused on three unfortunate UK fatalities in lifeguarded swimming pools. The entire forum dissected every single second and aspect of the incidents following the victims recovery from the water, right through to the inquest.
I remember leaving feeling empty and let down as not one speaker spoke about the most important aspect of each incident.
The 180 seconds before the rescue!
This is the information we need to share – ignorance is NOT bliss
Whilst in Stuttgart we met up with our SenTag partners on their stand to see the latest system upgrades and configurations which has just been released.
Directors of SenTag and Poolview Ltd at interbad in Stuttgart
SenTag acts as a layer of pool security either with or without patrolling lifeguards. The SenTAG security wristband continuously monitors depth and time for every swimmer and alerts if preset thresholds are exceeded.
The SENTAG Wristband monitors time and pressure for each user. Wristbands are set to a depth and time at which the alarm is raised. If the user should spend too much time under the pre-set depth an alarm is raised by signal from wristband to the SENTAG control unit.
The lifeguard receives an alarm that indicates which pool area that needs attention.
In this way the SENTAG wristband emulates the supervision of a lifeguard who should be naturally concerned if a swimmer stays too long beneath the surface.
We have just returned from our visit to interbad which is an international event on the theme of both public and private swimming pools, saunas and spas. Visitors and exhibitors included operators of swimming pools, hotels, fitness centres, spas and sports facilities, as well as investors, architects and planners from swimming pool manufacture and retail.
At interbad, there were nearly 450 exhibitors from Germany and abroad and visitors from around 64 countries, which included operators, swimming pool manufacturers and retailers, hoteliers, architects, planners and private constructors. This meeting point for thesector makes it possible to experience new products and features at the trade fair stands.
As specialist visitors and Drowning Prevention experts we take part in parallel discussions on current trends and discussing standards for the industry.
It has been a busy couple of months for us at Poolview Ltd as we forged ahead with a series of eight Poolview Safer Swimming System installations, which included two new build projects amongst the programme.
Now on to the next batch of installations that will take us through to Christmas
Our Poolview System continues to support lifeguards by providing "Additional Essential Vision"
We were fortunate enough to spend a few hours filming in a 1.2metre constant depth 25 metre swimming pool courtesy of Places For People Leisure last week. We created a short video to help visualise how the main components of our Poolview Safer Swimmer System works together.
It demonstrates how invaluable this type of equipment is in supporting Lifeguards and assisting them with the early detection of incidents in the swimming pool BEFORE they become more serious. In this instance you will see a Shallow Water Blackout re-enactment and also a situation where an unconscious child is discovered.
You can also view a more detailed explanatory video of the system here entitled 'The Poolview Safer Swimmer System Part 1'.
Every once in a while we get an opportunity to discuss and present Poolview to clients NOT based in a Council Office, Leisure Centre or Head Office. This was one of those occassions!
High on the 32nd floor we got to present and interact with architects, planners, builders and leisure operaters who wanted to ensure that they had all the facts on "Drowning Prevention Technology", what was available and most importantly to be able to select the BEST and most appropriate solution for their new build pools.
A very worthwhile day and new relationships forged
We were on site again over the past few days in London having a look at some interesting sites who wished to install our SwimEye System in some high end residential pools.
SwimEye offers a perfect "alert" solution for swimming pools which are not regularly lifeguarded
We faced a number of challenges within a few of the pools as we needed to assure our client that the integrity of the pool would not be affected in any way and of course with regard to the aesthetics, that anything we did would blend in and "not be noticeable" by the residents.
Excellent new partnerships forged with a bright future in store
Those of you who follow us will be well aware that I unfortunately post on a much to regular basis about dreadful drowning tragedies that occur during the hot summer days and holiday season. How often do we hear about the senseless loss of life at the beach, in a river, lake, back garden or holiday resort swimming pool?
I have a personal friend whose child tragically drowned in their hotel pool less than SIXTY minutes after they arrived – can you even begin to imagine the anguish and heartache?
Many parents will be entertaining their children over the summer months in all of these places and we are unfortunately reminded all too often that water can be incredible dangerous if carers don’t take proper safety precautions to ensure their children’s safety. In support of Drowning Prevention Week (18-26 June 2016), a campaign organised by the Royal Life Saving Society UK, Poolview Ltd have prepared this infographic on water safety and keeping your children safe over the summer months.
As simple as it sounds – children MUST have constant supervision around water and that even includes the bath. This means keeping your eye on them at all times! This means “forget your mobile phone – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram – email etc. etc.”
Holiday fatalities in foreign countries and new pools tend to happen on the 1st day in the 1st few hours, when the excitement has built to fever pitch with masses of distractions, suddenly your wee Jonny is out of sight – out of depth and at the bottom of a murky pool!
Rivers and lakes hold untold dangers, hot days 24 degrees and cold 4-degree water can put the body into shock and tragedy unfolds. Not forgetting the hidden dangers that lie beneath the surface including frighteningly fast currents and shopping trollies! Lakes and rivers look so benign and inviting – peaceful and placid – they can be waiting to “suck you in”.
Stop a chain of events occurring which will bring a personal tragedy to your own front door. Children can drown in less than 6cm of water so that includes buckets of water, ditches, large puddles, inflatable pools… anywhere a pool of water can form.
1) If your child can’t swim make sure you use approved flotation devices that are correct for your child’s weight and height.
2) If your child can swim they are still at risk and they must still be supervised in water within arm’s reach to provide ‘touch supervision’.
3) Learn to swim, an obvious one but we hear of parents taking their children swimming and watching or paddling from the side as they are unable to swim.
4) From the age of 1 you can teach your baby to swim. Participation in formal swim lessons can reduce the likelihood of childhood drowning by 88%.
5) Ensure your child drinks plenty of fluids even when they are in the water to prevent dehydration which could cause dizziness or nausea.
6) Make sure you test the water temperature before you enter the water. Your body temperature drops more quickly in water and can quickly move to hypothermia (when the body loses heat faster than it can produce it). If a child is shivering or has muscle cramps, get him or her out of the water immediately.
7) Don’t bathe or swim in unfamiliar waters without checking for the dangers. How deep? If you don’t know, don’t go.
8) Leave your mobile phone alone – you are there to supervise. Never leave a child unattended in or near water.
9) Have your child swim where there is a lifeguard.
10) Learn CPR (attend a class if you can). In the time it takes for paramedics to arrive, your CPR skills can save a life.
#DPW #stopdrowning #makeadifference #supportinglifeguards
"I was looking at everybody above the water and didn't see anyone down there!"
Poolview can support the Lifeguards and help resolve this issue - a very powerful video - please take the time to watch.
Poolview provides "Additional Essential Vision for Lifeguards"
#supportinglifeguards #makingadifference #DPW
Some time in the early days of June 2015, somebody took a lifebuoy from its stand on the banks of the Shannon, just north of the railway bridge in Athlone. About the same time the lifebuoy was removed – it was later be found burned out on nearby waste ground – local schoolboy Caolán Seoige Webster turned 15.
At 6ft 1in, the blue-eyed Caolán was the apple of the eye of his extended family at St Patrick’s Terrace in Athlone. His parents Bernadette and Seán lived next door to Caolán’s uncle Pádraig and aunt Máire. Cousins and siblings wandered freely around both houses. Both sets of parents, like many in Athlone, warned the children of the dangers of the river.
Caolán’s parents say their son, who had just completed second year in the local Marist college, was proud of the way his body was developing. He played a lot of football and was looking beyond the next year’s Junior Certificate to a career in the Army, perhaps inspired by the town’s Custume Barracks. He wanted a small house, a field and two ponies, he told his mother.
None of that was to happen. On June 10th, his parents understood he was going to play football, but Caolán had met some friends and gone to the river. He was a competent swimmer.
Where the friends gathered wasn’t an approved swimming place and Caolán’s father thinks he may not have known the water was nine feet deep. It was also his first swim of the year and he may not have known Ireland’s waterways are still dangerously cold in June. In seconds he was in shock and struggling.
His mother thinks there was an element of bravado in getting into the river. He wouldn’t have wanted to appear “chicken”. His father says he was “just two arms lengths from a jetty” but nobody could reach him and the lifebuoy was gone.
Caolán was in the water for between 10 and 15 minutes, a good portion of that time he was not breathing. Members of the nearby Athlone Sub Aqua Club pulled him from the water and he was taken to hospital in Ballinasloe, before being transferred by helicopter to Temple Street Hospital in Dublin, where he died in the early hours of June 11th.
In Athlone yesterday, his parents, his uncle Pádraig and aunt Máire said they would like to think publicising their loss might help prevent such disaster happening to others. Seán was keen that people be educated to the fact that a stolen lifebuoy could mean a stolen life. He thinks phone numbers should be displayed on lifebuoy stands so people could report when the buoys were missing. “And cameras, if they are going missing a lot,” he said.
Bernadette emphasised the need for young people themselves to know and appreciate the dangers of water and bravado. Thursday would have been Caolán’s 16th birthday and Pádraig said they had a gathering at his grave, later releasing 16 balloons from the house.
According to Roger Sweeney of Irish Water Safety, Caolán’s case is a stark example of the many factors that can go horribly wrong. “People do underestimate the coldness of the water at this time of year and this often coincides with an overestimation of their own ability. People just don’t realise how dangerous water is,” he said.
Thirty-seven children aged 14 and under drowned in the decade to 2014. In total 1,379 people drowned in that decade, an average of 137 every year, or 11 every month.
Mr Sweeney is concerned that in about a month’s time, over half a million primary schoolchildren will be released for the summer break. “We created a water safety curriculum and introduced it in 2004 but we are only scratching the surface in terms of getting buy-in as it is a non-mandatory part of the curriculum,” he said.
Mr Sweeney warned that drowning risks increased during bank holiday weekends, with alcohol present in one third of drowning victims. Some 62 per cent of drownings occur inland, with 80 per cent of drownings occurring close to the victim’s home. He called for “a cultural shift” around water safety, just as that attributed to public perception of road safety.
• Footage shows lifeguard surveying busy wave-pool in South Carolina
• Waves get turned on but he quickly spots small child in deep distress
• He dives into the pool and immediately rescues the three-year-old
• Criticized her parents for not watching their child carefully enough
This is the terrifying moment a lifeguard was forced to dive into a South Carolina wave-pool to rescue a three-year-old girl who was beginning to drown.
Shocking footage shows the lifeguard surveying the pool, which is packed full of adults and children enjoying the water and floating around in rubber rings.
The wave function on the pool is switched on and people begin to enjoy jumping and riding the waves.
The lifeguard walks up and down the side of the pool as he surveys swimmers enjoying themselves - but quickly spots a child in trouble, waving her arms desperately as the waves pull her under.
He dives into the pool quickly and swims towards her, before picking her up and swimming back to the edge of the pool.
The wave function is turned off as swimmers look on in confusion.
The unnamed lifeguard said: 'I had to walk this 3 year old girl around until I could find her family.
'They had no idea she was missing.
'I have been doing this for 18 years and I am still amazed by the lack of supervision some kids get around the water.'
Several online commentators have condemned the parents for neglecting the child.
One said: 'Anyone who lets a 3 year old go into a wave pool by themselves without any life jacket on should be criminally prosecuted for neglect.'
A fun day in the sun almost turned deadly for a 5-year-old boy swimming at a Fargo pool Thursday afternoon.
Staff at the Davies Recreational Pool spotted the boy in the water and pulled him to safety. A lifeguard on duty performed chest compressions and called for assistance.
F-M Ambulance rushed to the pool and later brought the boy to the hospital. They say he was conscious and breathing at that time.
The Fargo Park District’s director of recreation says things like this don't happen often, but they want lifeguards to be ready at all times.
"Their emergency action plan for pull-outs they just rehearsed it yesterday and then they are going to have a debriefing at 5pm with their manager, so I am very proud of our staff,” explained Clay Whittlesey with the Fargo Park District. “I can't emphasize how important it is in these situations to really have a good understanding of what you're doing and how important that is when you're on the lifeguard stand."
Whittlesey says the pool was at max capacity with 11 lifeguards on duty at the time of the incident.
