To prevent any potential risk of abuse or unsafe conditions, WWFY has established the following procedures for monitoring and supervising Aquatics programs.
Aquatics programs are considered “high risk” as they can quickly provide opportunity for both adult-to-participant abuse as well as participant-to-participant abuse. To prevent any potential risk of abuse or unsafe conditions, WWFY has established the following procedures for monitoring and supervising Aquatics programs.
- Monitoring for suspicious behavior in the water. This includes:
- Watching for inappropriate behaviors in the water (i.e. piggyback rides, members hanging on each other)
- Ensuring no sexual behavior or activity between members.
- Determining if any member feels uncomfortable with the attention they are receiving from another member.
- Ensuring there are no unsupervised areas of the pool.
- Monitoring locker rooms/changing areas. This includes:
- Develop a lifeguard schedule for consistent locker room, changing area, and bathroom monitoring.
- Utilize a checklist to document that locker room checks are consistently completed.
- Train employees on how to recognize suspicious or inappropriate behavior in locker rooms, changing areas, and bathrooms, including:
- Adults:
- Loitering in the locker room
- Watching/staring at members in the locker room
- Making inappropriate comments to the members in the locker room
- Participants:
- Participants seeking out unsupervised areas
- Mixed age groups of participants
- Making inappropriate comments to other participants in locker rooms, changing areas, and bathrooms.
- Adults:
Monitoring During Swim Lessons. This includes:
- Ensure instructors teach swim lessons in open, viewable swimming areas supervised by other employees.
- Monitor interactions with participants that are following your organization’s guidelines for appropriate and inappropriate physical interactions.
- Require instructors, when possible, to keep their hands above water and visible to others.
- Require instructors, when assisting a child during the lessons, to explain out loud where they will touch the child – “I am going to put my hand under your back to help you float.”
- When possible, encourage parents/guardians to observe swimming lessons.
Monitoring the pool deck and any lounge areas. This includes:
- Ensure all entrances and exits to the pool deck are appropriately and regularly monitored.
- Designate specific employees responsible for monitoring the pool deck and lounge areas (other than lifeguards). Active supervision of these areas is always critical.
- Monitor participants to ensure they are following your organization’s guidelines for appropriate interactions (including physical interactions, verbal interactions and electronic communications).
- Have a plan of action for responding to any deck changing (individuals changing on the pool deck and not in the appropriate locker room or changing area).
Supervisors must complete scheduled and random observations at least three times a month using the Aquatics Monitoring Checklist.
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Aquatics Monitoring Checklist
- Are the lifeguards positioned appropriately around the pool?
- Are the locker rooms being monitored on a consistent schedule?
- Is there enough distance between swimmers?
- Are all entrances and exits to the pool deck appropriately monitored?
- Are the Swim Instructors interacting with participants?
Comments: ______________________________________________________
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Supervisor Name: ____________________________________
Supervisor Signature: _________________________________
Date of Observation: __________________________________