Health and Safety Police Ban Swimmers From Doing Lengths

Forget staying in the shallow end. Swimmers at the Dagenham Swimming Pool in Essex are now only allowed to swim across the width of the pool for safety concerns. Officials say they would have to hire another lifeguard if people were allowed to swim lengths, as it is more difficult to keep an eye on them and there is not enough funding to pay for one. I can't quite wrap my head around how swimming one direction instead of another makes it any easier to spot someone drowning, and neither can local resident Dean Bradford. He says, "This is just the nanny state gone mad and it's affecting my life and other people's lives. It's another obstacle for people trying to get fit and healthy."

Comments

Ok, I can actually sort of picture this.

[clone53421]

If you put a lifeguard in the middle of the long side of the pool, they can pretty easily see the whole thing.

If you put the lifeguard in the middle of the short side, the far end is too far away, and you'd need another lifeguard at that end of the pool.

So, you prefer to put the lifeguard in the middle of the long side, to avoid having to hire two lifeguards.

However, if people are swimming across the length of the pool, putting a lifeguard in the middle of the long side would require the lifeguard to swim across the path of everyone who's doing laps in order to reach anyone needing help. If the people are swimming laps across the width of the pool, the lifeguard doesn't have to cross their paths to reach someone.

Individual Responsibility

[Anonymous Coward]

What's in it for government?

Sarcasm?

[GameboyRMH]

- It would take just a few extra seconds in distance for a lifeguard sitting in the middle of the length of an olympic-size pool to reach someone.

- If a person was drowning, I imagine the other swimmers would at least stop doing laps and let the lifeguard through.

- Even if the other swimmers didn't stop doing laps, I don't think a lifeguard would have any trouble avoiding the swimmers or diving under them.

Re:Probably a lie

[funkatron]

Newspapers are not a reliable source of information, they just all happen to write roughly the same fiction.