Aquatic Safety - Media Gallery

Harvard First-Year Outdoor Program Swimming Policies and Procedures

Jessica Ross — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:32:44 GMT

Swimming

Policies:

Question: What can we do? Wade? Dip? Swim?

A Lifeguard is Present Yes Yes Yes

No Lifeguard Present Yes Yes No

Definitions:

Wading: walking in water that is less than or equal to mid-thigh deep for the participant.

Dipping: Sitting, dunking, and splashing in water that is less than or equal to mid-thigh deep for the participant.

Swimming: entering water that is deeper than your mid-thigh.

Activities related to swimming that are NEVER allowed:

-Swimming, dipping, or wading at night.

-Swimming in water colder than 60 degrees F.

-Diving.

-Swimming in moving water.

-Solo swimming, wading, or dipping.

-Swimming in water that is deeper than chest high.

You MUST meet these following conditions:

-A leader/staff person with American Red Cross Lifeguard certification or comparable training must act as lifeguard for any swimming activity.

-A leader supervises all wading, dipping and swimming from the shore.

-Wear shoes when wading, dipping or swimming.

-All FOPpers who are going to swim must first have their swimming tested and approved by a leader.

-Leaders need to designate a swim area with boundaries AND leaders need to first check this area for dangers such as rocks, sudden drop-offs, logs, broken glass, fishhoks, etc.

Procedures:

-The lifeguard and an additional leader stays on shore to observe the swimmers.

-A buddy system is developed for the FOPpers who will be in the water.

-Any FOPper who can not follow the FOP swimming policy is removed form the activity.

-A rescue tube can be devised using an ensolite pad wrapped in webbing.

Injury Rates During Water-Based Wilderness Recreation

Outdoor Ed — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 05:20:45 GMT

by G. Dean Witman
This study came about after the author approached several people in the wilderness recreation field about their risk-management practices, especially those related to training people who lead trips involving water exposure. The author was surprised that no widely accepted standards exist for training trip leaders or for the skills they need to deal with cases of water emergency. Some people even speculated that injury rates would increase if more water-safety training were conducted because injury rates during land-based activities were assumed to be greater.
Although it was outside the scope of this effort to test all current opinions about wilderness water safety held by every practitioner in the field, the author hopes that this study will initiate more conversation about a topic that has not gotten much attention. The purpose of the study was to compare injury rates between water-based wilderness recreation and other backcountry activities and investigate whether more needs to be done to reduce the probability of injury during water-related backcountry activities.

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, 2007, 1, 134-144
© 2007 Human Kinetics, Inc.

VOBS Wilderness Water Safety Training

Rick Curtis — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:09:20 GMT

Curriculum for a Wilderness Water Safety Training Course from Voyageur Outward Bounds School

Protocols: NW OB Instructor's Manual

DEAN WITMAN — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 02:38:21 GMT

Chapter from Wade, I. R. (1988). Northwest Outward Bound instructor's manual.

Protocols: OB UK Swimming

DEAN WITMAN — Tue, 15 May 2007 03:18:51 GMT

Summary of policies in place with OB UK. Provided by Bob Barton, Safety Advisor to the OB Trust.

Protocols: NOLS Backcountry Swimming

Outdoor Ed — Wed, 02 May 2007 04:03:16 GMT

Protocols: SROM Swimming

Outdoor Ed — Wed, 02 May 2007 04:02:44 GMT

Protocols: Prescott Swimming

Outdoor Ed — Wed, 02 May 2007 04:02:00 GMT

Protocols: NCOBS Swimming

Outdoor Ed — Wed, 02 May 2007 04:01:06 GMT

Protocols: Gray Wolf Swimming Policy

Outdoor Ed — Wed, 02 May 2007 04:00:31 GMT

Protocols: GCSU Swimming

Outdoor Ed — Wed, 02 May 2007 03:59:42 GMT

Protocols: Eagle Rock Swimming

Outdoor Ed — Wed, 02 May 2007 03:59:10 GMT

Protocols: Deer Hill Swim Test Guidelines

Outdoor Ed — Wed, 02 May 2007 03:58:32 GMT

Protocols: CRMS Swimming in the Backcountry

Outdoor Ed — Wed, 02 May 2007 03:57:40 GMT

Swiftwater Rescue Fact Sheet by Slim Ray

DEAN WITMAN — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 03:55:31 GMT

Backcountry swimming is not the only situation in which outside support for an aquatic emergency may be delayed. Moving water is a killer even in an urban setting. Often the victim is a professional (fire, police, EMT) or would-be citizen rescuer. The circumstances surrounding the water-related incidents may be different but some of the preventive measures may be the same.