Lifeguard

Job Summary:

The Lifeguard is a critical role at the YMCA Of Attleboro Norton, responsible for ensuring the safety of all swimmers in and around the aquatics area. This position requires the guard to prevent accidents, actively scan, and respond to incidents, accidents, and emergencies quickly and effectively.

Key Responsibilities:

• Be rescue ready at all times, wearing rescue tube, bathing suit, guard shirt, whistle, and personal protective equipment.
• Maintain constant surveillance of the pool area, actively scanning your assigned zone every 10 seconds from bottom to top.
• Respond to any situation/emergency within 10 seconds based on your training/certification and the emergency procedures established by the YMCA.
• Choose your position based on glare, pool activity, swimmers' abilities, and zone size, ensuring you can best see all areas of your zone and respond to any distressed swimmer or emergency within 10 seconds.
• Rotate your position regularly, checking your zone and the pool area for hazards or dangerous conditions before assuming responsibility of a zone or the pool.
• Assist with ancillary duties, such as chemical testing, swim testing, cleaning, organizing the deck/equipment, checking first aid supplies, and other duties as assigned by the Aquatics Director during down times when no one is in the pool.
• Know, understand, and consistently enforce all rules and policies using the Q-1-2 enforcement method, being firm, fair, and polite when explaining rules and policies to members.
• Follow all policies and procedures as established in the Aquatics Staff Manual.
• Attend monthly in-service trainings and other staff meetings as required.
• Complete incident/accident reports following any incident/accident and submit to supervisor before the end of the shift, notifying the Aquatics Director of any issues.
• Find coverage for any shifts you are unable to work, communicating your coverage with the Aquatics Director.
• Follow the pool schedule, ensuring the pool set up reflects the number of lanes available based on the current pool schedule.
• Never leave the pool unattended.
• No cell phones on the pool deck while you're in a guard shirt.
• Other duties as assigned by supervisor.

YMCA Competencies:

Mission Advancement: Accepts and demonstrates the Y's values, demonstrating a desire to serve others and fulfill community needs, recruiting volunteers and building effective, supportive working relationships with them, and supporting fundraising.

Collaboration: Works effectively with people of different backgrounds, abilities, opinions, and perceptions, building rapport and relating well to others, seeking first to understand the other person's point of view, and remaining calm in challenging situations.

Operational Effectiveness: Makes sound judgments, transferring learning from one situation to another, embracing new approaches and discovering ideas to create a better member experience, establishing goals, clarifying tasks, planning work, and actively participating in meetings.

Personal Growth: Pursues self-development that enhances job performance, demonstrating an openness to change, and seeking opportunities in the change process, accurately assessing personal feelings, strengths, and limitations and how they impact relationships.

Qualifications:

• Must be 16 years old.
• Must be currently lifeguard certified by YMCA, American Red Cross, or other recommended nationally approved certifying organization.
• Must be currently certified in CPR for the Professional Rescuer, First Aid, and Oxygen Administration by a nationally approved certifying organization.
• Ability to stay calm and respond effectively in an emergency.
• Quick, effective decision-making skills.
• A positive, friendly attitude and strong interpersonal skills.
• A level of professionalism and maturity that reflects the serious nature of aquatic safety and the importance of the lifeguard's job.

Work Environment and Physical Demands:

• Pass a water and skills test.
• Maintain certification-level of physical and mental readiness.
• Remain alert with no lapses in consciousness.
• Be able to sit or stand for extended periods of time.
• Observe all sections of an assigned zone or area of responsibility.
• Ability to hear noises and distress signals in the aquatic environment, including in the water and anywhere around the zone of responsibility.
• Ability to perform strenuous physical tasks necessary for a water rescue, including lifting a victim from the bottom of the pool and extracting them from the pool without assistance.
• Ability to communicate verbally, including projecting voice across distance in normal and loud situations.

Required Certifications/Training:

• Lifeguard – pre-hire and biannual recertification; cross over to YMCA Lifeguard at next recertification if not currently YMCA certified.
• Basic Life Support (CPR-Pro) – pre-hire and annual recertification.
• Adult and Pediatric First Aid – pre-hire and biannual recertification.
• Emergency Use of Medical Oxygen – within first 90 days and biannual recertification.
• Child Abuse Prevention – pre-hire and Annual Refresher.
• Y Cause and Culture – within first 30 days.