When "Lifeguard On-Duty" Doesn't Mean "Safe"

(CBS)  Just seeing a lifeguard instills a sense of security.

But having a lifeguard at water's edge -- doesn't always mean your pool is safe.

The statistics are sobering. On average, 10 people a day die from unintentional drowning. More than one in 5 drowning deaths involves a child 14 or younger. Some of those cases involve pools where life guards were on duty.

"Early Show" Consumer Correspondent Susan Koeppen told the story of Yoni Gottesman.

Much More Consumer News from Susan
E-mail Susan
Susan's Twitter page

Yoni was just 4 years old when his parents took him to summer camp.

His mother, Anat Gottesman, said, "I remember when I left him in the morning. He said, 'Mommy, I'm so happy. Bye bye. We'll see you later.'"

But that was the last they would see Yoni alive.

Anat said, "You think you can do everything for your child, and in his worst moment, you can't help him."

Yoni drowned in his very first day of camp. His drowning was caught on this surveillance video. In the video, Yoni can be seen struggling to swim to the edge of the pool. And finally, he is floating face-down in the water, even with two lifeguards just feet away. It took eight minutes before anyone noticed.

Gerry Dworkin, a consultant for Lifesaving Resources Inc., a private safety organization, told Koeppen, "We see time and time again where the lifeguard fails to recognize the problem and fail to intervene appropriately."

Dworkin says many people get a false sense of security when a life guard is on duty.

"We estimate that there are 100 plus drownings that occur at guarded facilities every year," he said.

So, "The Early Show" decided to check out lifeguards who were "on duty" at several different pools. The good news: we found plenty paying attention. But some were not as focused, such as a lifeguard at an indoor pool who was flipping through a magazine.

Dworkin said of the lifeguard looking at the magazine, "This should certainly not be allowed."

Another lifeguard was busy putting away swimming noodles.

Dworkin says, "The lifeguard should never turn her back to someone in the pool at any time."

The same lifeguard also did paperwork and sent text messages.

Dworkin told Koeppen, "In my opinion, the telephone has no place at the pool whatsoever."

Another lifeguard was spotted by "The Early Show" texting over and over again, even though the pool was filled with children.

Koeppen asked Dworkin, "On a scale from one to 10, one being pretty bad, 10 being good, how does this lifeguard rank?"

Dworkin replied, "Zero. I think you're better off not having a lifeguard and putting up a sign 'no lifeguard on duty' rather than have a lifeguard operating in this manner."

The Gottesman family thought their son was in good hands at a pool with life guards, but learned the hard way a lifeguard doesn't always equal safety."

Anat told "The Early Show," "We want to feel that yoni he didn't die in vain, that his death will serve a good purpose. And if we can save more kids life, that's what we want to do."

The Gottesmans successfully sued the camp where Yoni died and have now focused their efforts to raising awareness for pool safety. We've been tracking drowning deaths with lifeguards on duty over the past month and we have found several cases in Colorado, Ohio, and North Carolina, everywhere from a town pool to a country club.

Koeppen added on the broadcast that lifeguards should be scanning the pool constantly. In addition, lifeguards should be sitting in an elevated chair, poised and ready to act if an emergency occurs.

However, in the end, Koeppen said nothing can beat parental supervision.

[lucetta66]

As a child, I passed out in a pool. No one noticed me except my sister. Because of this experience, my children are all great swimmers and they always swim with a buddy. My oldest daughter is a lifeguard. I know she and her co-workers are very attentive. Even so, I would never send any of my kids to the pool without a swimming buddy. Swimming is a dangerous activity even though it can be great fun. Dunking friends or throwing them isn't safe because it makes it difficult for lifeguards and others to see distressed swimmers. Lifeguards do their best but we should be good patrons by obeying all rules and using common sense. I did watch the video of Yoni's drowning. How tragic.

[LifeguardONE]

This news piece serves the purpose of educating America that there can be people who are unprofessional and incompetent in any line of work. I am a Lifeguard, and Lifeguard Instructor-Trainer as well as an EMT. I have worked in Aquatics for close to 10 years now and I can say with complete confidence that the behaviors of those Lifeguards are not normal. AMERICA PLEASE DO NOT JUDGE US BECAUSE OF THE ACTIONS OF THOSE FEW. I run a facility with 7 pools and close to 50 Guards, and not one of us would ever EVER act with such disregard for the safety of our patrons. And any Lifeguard who did would be fired and I would recommend to the Red Cross that their certification be taken away!

[dmcwahooo]

Aquatic safety experts have long acknowledged the limitations of human surveillance. Even with a diligent, well-trained staff (which was clearly lacking in Yoni's case), drowning still occurs because detecting it is very difficult. It's silent, fast and indistinguishable from other swimming behavior? until it's too late. When a lifeguard is distracted, bored, overwhelmed or exhausted, the risks increase even more so.

Swimming carries with it a higher risk of death than skiing or biking. Even keeping a handgun in the house is safer than having a pool. Yet swimming remains the second most popular recreational activity in the U.S. (after walking). The time has come to use technology to make it safer, and to dramatically reduce the number of preventable drownings that devastate too many people's lives.

When a needless drowning similar to Yani's occurred in our home town, myself and two partners? along with the collaboration of experts from a variety of disciplines? created the world's first reliable, affordable, and practical drowning prevention system, called the Wahooo? Swim Monitor System (WahoooSMS.com). The system will add a much-needed critical layer of protection both for swimmers and aquatic staff. With a Wahooo system in place, needless and preventable tragedies like Yoni's won't ever happen again.

[dmcwahooo]

Note that those question marks appearing in my comments above are supposed to be hyphens...

[lifeguardsaregood]

I'm also a lifeguard at a public pool and I'd like to make a few points. First off, what happened was awful, but some blame should also be placed on the shoulders of the counseler who dunked and left the kid. Second, I'm with the other guards who posted. Lifeguards are not, not, not babysitters. There's a Red Cross course for that, but lifeguards don't take it. We take a course in saving lives, not helping kids get snacks or keeping an eye on them while they lay on their towels. Way too many parents buy a summer membership for their kids and then drop them off all day every day. Maybe if they didn't do that statistics wouldn't be so high. That, however, has nothing do do with Yoni's case. Third, there are plenty of good guards out there and it seriously hurts when people don't appreciate it when you jump in the water in your sweatpants and sweatshirt to save their kid's life, when they were just sitting on the side. You are being overly critical of people you haven't met when you call them an "arogant lifeguard" because they are proud of what they do. Mistakes are made by everyone, and some people shouldn't have jobs that they do because of those mistakes, but you can't judge a whole profession based on the actions of a few. Next time, reconsider before you attack people who are glad to save lives every day.

[LIfeguard1313]

I am not saying that what happened wasn't terrible and that the guards and counselors were lacking in their observation skills but I was remarking on the video and comments regarding to the statement this morning that there are too many guards not paying attention to the activity in the water. I was also adding to the comment stated about parental supervision is recommended and not to just dump your kids off at a pool. I made a rescue this month where a child got disorientated going down our water slide and couldn't make it to the wall on their own. While the parent sat behind a window on her phone and when i brought her child to her safe and sound, with her completely oblivious to what was going on, the first words out of her mouth were "does this mean she is kicked out?" not thank you or is she alright? Don't tell me there isn't something wrong with the parents!

[TheRedwoodsGroup]

Thanks for telling this story. Aquatic Safety is an important message that needs to spread throughout our communities. The Redwoods Group is an insurance provider for YMCAs, JCCs, and Camps. We provide risk management advice to our customers to help keep children safe. The Yonni Gottesman video is one that we use in trainings very often.

Visit our blog to join more discussions on aquatic safety: http://blog.redwoodsgroup.com

[SBParent]

How comes a camp counselor dunks a child so aggressively over 12 times, then leaves him to die in the middle of the pool, the lifeguards ignore it and the floating child for over 8 minutes, and that is not investigated as a crime?

a. Tom Sneddon the DA was more interested in chasing Michael Jackson than protecting children!
b. The local Sheriff got "contribution" from the club owner.
c. Attorney General Jerry Brown is an incompetent politician who does not care about children's life
d. All the above

Correct answer: d

[SBParent]

The full details are at

http://www.YoniGottesman.com

The emphasis should be put also on law enforcement! Awareness is insufficient! Lifeguard that does not do his/her job and endangered children, and club managers & owners should be prosecuted! This will guarantee no SMS sending & Magazine flipping!
In Santa Barbara the ;aw enforcement & DA are so corrupted they haven't even investigated Yoni's death as a crime! Which is how it should have been!

[Ivey.West]

SBParent,

I get your frustration, but you're responses to some of these other comments just don't add up to me. Lifeguard1313 has a good point. Yes, in Yoni's situation, the lifeguard is to blame, but as are the camp counselors and the camp management. A well run aquatic facility includes internal auditing, consistent in-service training, and constant vigilance, not just of the lifeguards, but those watching the lifeguards.

At the end of the day, there is this perception in country that Lifeguards are babysitters, and that is not, at the very least SHOULD not be the case. Many state laws require direct supervision of children by an adult in all pools, lifeguarded or not.

The statistics used at the beginning of this article are incredibly frustrating, and one sided. Sure, drownings happen in lifeguarded pools. In some circumstances due to negligence as is the case with Yoni Gottesman. In many cases, however, their are secondary medical issues that contribute, and there's no place in these stated statistics that point that out. There's also no statistic quoted in the article on how many lives are saved each day by lifeguards across the country.

What happened to Yoni was a tragedy, a preventable one. Any well-operated facility would welcome the scrutiny by the media or activist groups to show that they are doing what they are supposed to do. It is a shame, however, that instead of opening your eyes to see both the good and the bad about the industry, that you're just throwing the whole thing under the bus.

[SBParent]

The full details are at http://www.YoniGottesman.com
The emphasis should be put also on law enforcement! Awareness is insufficient! Lifeguard that does not do his/her job and endangered children, and club managers & owners should be prosecuted! This will guarantee no SMS sending & Magazine flipping!
In Santa Barbara the ;aw enforcement & DA are so corrupted they haven't even investigated Yoni's death as a crime! Which is how it should have been!

[gryphon501]

hey lifeguard who commented, you are an idiot. This was a day camp. Parents were not supposed to be there. The lifeguards are there to keep the pool safe? I thought it was to keep the kids safe. This kid was dunked 12 TIMES by a camp counselor, then left in the deep end where he died right in front of them and floated for 8 minutes before they retrieved his body!! How on earth can you excuse that? As for "175 people" being in a pool, that was not this situation, there were perhaps a dozen tops. Not a crowded pool, just lazy, irresponsible, lackadaisical lifeguards. Why don't you read the article and look up the drowning video on the internet before posting ignorant comments.