Mackay Responsibility

My Responsibility as a Life Guard

MacKenzie Mackay

To become a life guard you take a two week course that teaches you rescue techniques, basic first aid and what to do if there is ever a serious injury.  In the class it talks about how prevention is the number one responsibility of a life guard. You have many responsibilities but the most important one is prevention.  Enforcing the rules prevents most on-land and in-water injuries. However accidents can and will still happen. There are many things that could happen such as choking, seizures, drowning, spinals, on-land injuries, and etcetera. No matter how many times you tell a kid not to run they still do it. 

One of the most dangerous injuries you can have at a pool (besides drowning) is a spinal and those can also be the most difficult especially if the victim is in the deep end or where you can not touch. Sometimes during drowning the person you’re trying to save will latch on to you and you have to fight them and then start the rescue process again. As a lifeguard you can’t hesitate you have to act to the fullest of your abilities. However if you need help with a rescue you can always whistle for another guard. You must be prepared for anything. 

As a Lifeguard it is my responsibility to guard and make sure that everybody is safe. Safety is the reason we have life guards. As a lifeguard it is also your job to make sure the pool area is clean and that the pool equipment is working as it should, if it isn’t then somebody could get hurt and it could be your fault.  As a lifeguard you need to know what to do if there is an emergency. As a lifeguard you have to work in a team and if just one of you messes up you all mess up. As a life guard it is my job to make sure I am safe as well. 

 That is basically my responsibility as a life guard. I enforce the rules, I clean, I answer questions, and I do whatever else that I need to do to keep the pool safe. I know that if I don’t do my job right it can lead to something really bad happening. 

Being a life guard isn’t really a hard job. There is a lot of pressure considering sometimes it can be life or death but this is what we all signed up for. My responsibility is to make sure there is no tragedy. Saving people, guarding things, it’s the lifeguard job.