Life Saving

There's still a lot of debate about the Community Support Officers and the sad case of a Manchester boy who drowned in a pond.  The parents have been making some emotional pleas on this subject and there have been a lot of comments in the press etc...  I've also been following some Blogs discussing the subject.

Now I've read about the case a bit more I've a few observations to make on the general subject of water life saving.  I used to have a Bronze Medallalion, many many moons ago and I took several other Royal Life Saving Association courses thanks to my mum who was the county swimming instructor when I was growing up.

The case in hand.  For reasons unknown the dead boy's sister got herself into difficulty in a pond.  The pond appears to be murky and is recorded as about 6 feet deep.  He tried to help her and got into trouble himself.  Anglers on the scene got her out, but he was not longer to be seen.  It was into this scenario that the Community Support Officers arrived.

From a life saving perspective, one of the rules is don't get into water where you can't see the bottom unless you have a choice.  You should find something to reach with, then find something to throw, and finally you should get into the water if you feel it's safe.  In the circumstances, with the boy already lost to sight, I'd have to conclude that without a group and a rope handy, I wouldn't say it was safe.

Even then you need to be able to do some basic things.  Somebody on another Blog questioned the idea of "further risk", using the words "what possible risk could there be for an adult in a pond".

The simple answer is lots.  I'm a strong swimmer, I'm over 6 foot but I'd think twice about jumping into cold, murky water of unknown depth to try and find somebody who had gone under.  Typical problems in these scenarios: the rescuer dives in, or goes under the surface on entry to the water, they find that the water may be cold on the surface but is freezing (literally) a few inches/feet under, opens their mouth and gets a mouthful of freezing water which can literally stop their heart; they wade in and get stuck in the mud; the swim and get their feet caught in weeds etc... and then go under; they think they can touch bottom and for a moment when tired themselves touch the bottom and try to push themselves off and get their feet stuck in mud; finally, if you end up underwater, and it's dark and extremely cold, it's not necessarily easy to orientate yourself and get back to the surface.

If you're by yourself and don't know the basics of water based rescue (towing, getting an unconscious person out and subduing a person) then there's another dimension of complexity.  People panic when they're in trouble, the easiest way to deal with that is to hit them or hold them under for a few seconds and then pull them out again.  You have to be able to talk to them and tell them what you're trying to do, then you have to swim with them and how to keep them out of the water while you get yourself out and pull them out.

This stuff is bloody hard in a nice warm swimming pool.

Finally, sadly they might die anyway.  It happened to my mother with a child in a relatively warm outdoor swimming pool.

Lunch?

I'm going to be in London on Saturday 13th October if anybody fancies lunch.  I'll have a co-worker along, probably, and it'll be his first time in London, so I thought a day of pubbage would probably show him what it's really like.