The Conference was well organized and expertly moderated by Steve Munatones, and attended by some of the most prominent people in the swimming world. I was proud and glad to be attending this groundbreaking and necessary event. I made sure to introduce myself to many people, and I had the pleasure of meeting a long time cyberfriend for the first time. http://engineer-merritt.blogspot.com/ is the first blog I remember following. She is the new race director of the annual Naples Island Swim in Long Beach California.
I would like to briefly bullet point my observations as to what the sport of open water swimming is going to put in place providing for a safe and fun environment:
- Safety Coordinator, independent from the race director and race referee, ultimately the representative from the EMS authority that has responsibility for life safety in the area. The head lifeguard, if the event is at guarded facility, would be an example of such an authority. He has that responsibility in his job description.
- Safety Standards, Guidelines and Education. Quality control. See USAT
- Safety Certification, of race officials, race directors, course marshalls, et al. See USAT
- Standardize Safety Action Plan, Follow Incident Action Plan of Local Authorities or other
- Course management guidelines/standards
- Education of participants to key elements of safe swimming during training, while participating in events, and all other times
- Risk Assessment
- Annual Conference
- United States Triathlon reached out to USMS, and will be meeting again soon! Jeah!
- revenue issues
- Standards/guidelines and other best practices must be taken into account. See USAT, USLA, YMCA, American Red Cross.
- Event monitoring/lifeguarding, professional/volunteer, open water certified
- Education and Certification and Emergency preparedness including a comprehensive risk assessment and incident action plan
- We will be working closely with USAT. See Jeah above
On Sunday, there were dozens of suggestions, opinions, recommendations, experiences, requests, ideas and proposals shared among those from the open water swimming/triathlon/medical/military communities. Below is a summary draft of the key ten points discussed during the last session. If you feel important points or proposals should be added, please feel free to email me and I will provide a final summary report by Wednesday, March 23rd for your reference.
1. Create and utilize an independent Safety Officer position that is separate from the Race Director with the responsibility to plan and execute the safety aspects of a race and the authority to postpone or cancel a race.
2. Establish educational and certification programs for key positions responsible for open water swimming events
3. Set and make uniform race safety standards and check lists
4. Create an online repository of information with shared documents and content
5. Collaborate across events, borders and organizations
6. Offer pre-race and regularly scheduled clinics to help elevate the awareness and increase the education of swimmers and coaches
7. Create a mindset and lifestyle of safety at all levels of open water swimming – training and racing, solo and mass participation, fitness and competitive
8. Establish, formalize and annually review risk assessment before races are approved or sanctioned.
9. Interact, incorporate and defer to the knowledge and experience of professional safety personnel (lifeguards, Coast Guard, Coast Guard Auxiliary, etc) in the pre-race planning and execution of safety before and during the race.
10. Establish standards and recommendations for athlete education for training and racing so athletes learn what is required themselves
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