David Lloyd Clubs has over 100 clubs in the UK with heated indoor or outdoor pools and a 'less than 60-seconds' emergency rescue standard throughout. It achieves this standard using RLSS UK's Swimming Pool Emergency Rescue Award.

David Lloyd Clubs is proud to ensure that its operations team and duty managers have the necessary skills to support in the event of a swimming pool emergency. The RLSS UK Swimming Pool Emergency Rescue Award contains all the relevant and important skills needed to recognise, rescue, and recover a casualty and perform immediate pool first aid if required.

Iain Denny, David Lloyd Club's Health & Safety Training Manager for Pool Safety, says: "We are constantly reviewing our policies to ensure that we continue to offer the highest standards in swimming pool safety. The swimming pool is a high-risk environment in any leisure club, so we treat it as more than just the lifeguard's responsibility; the whole team is responsible for ensuring it's safe for our members. Having our gym team and duty managers trained in Swimming Pool Emergency Rescue techniques means they can provide essential support and back-up to our dedicated pool lifeguards."

When RLSS UK created the Swimming Pool Emergency Rescue Award (previously known as the Emergency Response Pool Award (ER-Pool), David Lloyd Clubs' adopted it to fulfil many team members' training requirements. 

It offered all the essential pool rescue skills needed to help uphold and ensure its 'less than 60-second' emergency rescue standard.

Since 2022, David Lloyd Clubs has trained nearly 2,000 team members in the Swimming Pool Emergency Rescue Award (formerly ER-Pool Award) – with 700+ dedicated pool lifeguards holding the RLSS UK National Pool Lifeguard Qualification (NPLQ). 

In 2024, Iain Denny from David Lloyd Clubs and an expert panel collaborated with RLSS UK to improve and update the award, which aims to provide staff other than lifeguards with the confidence and competence to perform rescues and treat casualties. (Read more about this collaboration project here.)

Iain Denny added, "We have a mandatory number of team members or job roles that have lifesaving qualifications, so we know there are always enough people in the building to perform rescues, provide pool first aid, and strengthen our swimming pool safety precautions." 

Find out more about the Swimming Pool Emergency Rescue Award here.