As patronage at Geelong’s seven Swim, Sport and Leisure centres spikes
during summer, the City is reminding community members to treat lifeguards and
other employees with respect and care - not aggression.
Lauren is sharing her experiences about the impact
of abuse on frontline workers as part of the City’s
Occupational Violence and Aggression (OVA) awareness campaign.
The shift
supervisor at several centres says lifeguards enforce a number of rules in and around
pools in order to keep everyone safe.
We have the Watch Around Water policy and it is so important so that we don't have
three-year-olds in the water by themselves or falling off the side [of the
pool]. It might only be knee deep, but that's enough for a child to drown and I
would never, ever want that to happen.
Lauren says that drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death in
children under five.
So, I would much prefer
having a hard conversation with a parent about keeping their child safe than
consoling them if something has happened to the child.
Lauren says there is also a
strict height requirement for the two big waterslides at Leisurelink.
A lot of parents will come
in, promising their child that they will be able to go on the really cool
waterslide, but unfortunately, they are below the height requirement [and can't
ride]. This quite often will turn into a big piece of conflict.
Interestingly, we often
have middle aged men, that have children with them, getting angry and upset
with 16-year-olds, 18-year-olds, 21-year-olds [employees].
Lauren recalls a particular incident recently that left her and a number
of employees visibly shaken.
There was a patron yelling
at a lifeguard so I asked him to come over into a quieter area and he
immediately started going at me, like in my face, waving his hands
aggressively, telling me to hand over a wristband and that his child will be
going on the waterslide.
He said, ‘Give me a
wristband now, you have to give it to me!’ and I began to get quite shaken.
The father continued to
verbally abuse Lauren and the receptionist, including for talking to his son.
He was quite significantly
under the height requirement, but the parent just pointed at the wristbands and
was like, ‘You'll be handing this to me - it is your job.
I just felt like I
couldn't get out of it and I explained to him that it's a manufacturing
requirement - if he's not tall enough, he's not safe to go on it and I want
your child to go home safely.
I also don’t want to be
put in a position in the Coroner’s Court justifying why I ignored the
manufacturer’s instructions.
Just the look in his eyes;
it just felt like he wanted to become more aggressive and I had to keep
stepping back and step behind the counter in order for myself to feel safe.
After a lot of back and
forth, the man left with his son.
My whole body was shaking,
and it wasn't until I got home and I told my partner about it, that I burst
into tears.
I did feel like at that
moment he could have physically hurt me or someone else - something wasn't
right there.
One of the lifeguards that
was spoken to quite aggressively, it was her second shift. She hadn't worked on
the slides before and that really upset me because she hasn't raised any
interest in working on the slides since.
I don't blame her to be
honest. I didn't really want to go to work the next day after that happened.
And then it's the fear of, you know, next time you have to say ‘no’ to a
parent, is it going to escalate to that extent again?
Lauren wants the community to remember that lifeguards and pool employees are human too.
The majority of the patrons are so kind and so caring, but it's just
remembering that we are here to do a job and keep you safe around water.
And we do have the training and the knowledge, whether [the lifeguard
is aged] 16 or 45. We want people to enjoy their time at the centre and go home
happy and healthy.
Greater Geelong Mayor Stretch Kontelj OAM
It takes courage to bring up such personal experiences like this and I
thank Lauren for giving the community insights about what our Swim, Sport and
Leisure employees face every day.
Our campaign aims to raise awareness of the Occupational Violence and
Aggression abuse council workers face as they serve the community.
Lifeguards and leisure centre employees are here to help - not to
be harmed.
Councillor Chris Burson
Please treat our employees with respect - they’re someone’s neighbour,
friend or parent.
They’re doing vital work to make sure everyone has a good time and goes
home safely.