Chris Slee, Melbourne
Daryl Croke, who works as a swimming teacher, coach and lifeguard at a leisure centre in the Moreland area, told a November 24 meeting in Brunswick that understaffing endangers the lives of swimmers at many Melbourne pools.
Croke argued that at least three staff should be on duty at all times to deal with emergency situations. If a swimmer begins to drown, he explained, it is necessary to rescue them from the water, apply CPR, call an ambulance and evacuate other swimmers from the pool, all in a very short time. Two staff cannot do all this, yet many pools only have two people on duty.
Croke cited a near drowning that led to the death of a young man at the Coburg Olympic Pool in 1998. Two staff were supposed to be on duty, but one had left.
At that time the Coburg pool, although owned by the Moreland City Council, was managed by a private company with particularly bad work practices. But even in council-managed pools, staffing is often inadequate. Moreland council only requires a minimum of two staff members to be on duty at two pools it owns that are managed by the YMCA, in Coburg and Pascoe Vale.
According to Croke, as well as endangering pool users, understaffing is stressful for the workers. Often they are required to work four hours without a break.
Most pool workers are employed on a casual basis and there is a high level of staff turnover. Many workers are poorly trained and pay rates differ widely between pools. Workers employed directly by the Moreland council are paid up to 25% more than those employed by the YMCA.
Croke called on community groups to put pressure on local councils to set adequate staffing levels and working conditions at the pools they own. He also argued that the state government should pass laws and employ inspectors to ensure pool safety.
According to Croke, pool workers need to join a union and be prepared to take industrial action, if necessary, to improve their pay and conditions. The Australian Services Union is attempting to unionise pool workers. The high level of casualisation makes this difficult, but a recent strike by workers at Yarra Ranges pools won guarantees that working conditions would be protected when the management of the pools changed.
From Green Left Weekly, December 1, 2004.
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