During May, we have been working hard and collaborating with numerous experts and other industry specialists to continue to support our qualification holders, Members, Trainers, and the Leisure industry.

We remain committed to providing support, guidance, electronic resources, and development opportunities so that everybody involved with RLSS UK can continue and recover, with the least possible disruption.

May has been another busy month for us, see below for a roundup of what we’ve provided:

Guidance

We have worked with experts to create guidance to support Operators, Trainers, Clubs and Training Centres when the government guidance allows venues to open and training to take place again. We have already prepared and published the following guidance documents ‘Guidance for Swimming Pool Operators Managing Lifeguards during COVID-19’ and ‘Guidance for Open Water Swimming Operators Managing Lifeguards during COVID-19’ which are available by clicking here.

More guidance documents will be published throughout June, including:

• Guidance for Delivering RLSS UK Training and Assessments during COVID-19
• Guidance for Beach Operators Managing Lifeguards during COVID-19
• Guidance for Aquapark Operators Managing Lifeguards during COVID-19
• Guidance for Operating a Lifesaving Club during COVID-19
• Guidance for Swimming Teachers Providing Supervision for Swimming Lessons during COVID-19
  
  

Webinars - coming soon

Throughout June, we will be delivering a series of webinars, dedicated to the guidance we have created and giving you the opportunity to ask questions. Please, keep an eye on our social media for further details. 

Online Learning

Our free NPLQ online, ongoing training has continued to prove popular during May. We have now published all 10, each completed session ensures lifeguards keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date and qualifies for 0.5 CPD points that can be used when renewing an NPLQ.  We are delighted to inform you that over 100,000 CPD modules have been completed by over 16,000 people.

The Lifesaver-Lifechanger online training modules have also been popular and are spreading the important water safety information for families to stay safe in, on or around water. 3,500 people have now completed over 12,000 modules. Lifesaver-Lifechanger can be accessed by clicking here.

Working with RNLI, we have created online learning for beach lifeguards and NVBLQ holders, with the first module launched on 28 May, a further 5 free modules will be available throughout June.

Qualifications

For our qualification holders, we are negotiating with the regulators for a further extension to our qualifications. We are hoping to have confirmation on this very shortly, we add any updates to our COVID-19 update page. Keep checking

For our industry, we are creating  clear guidance for when it is considered safe for training to commence.  

Members

We published the Lifesaver magazine, which as always was packed full of updates, information, and news. On this occasion, we made the decision to produce a digital-only version which was made available directly to members.

Our popular William Henry Lectures have also continued including an interesting and educational lecture from Maxi a lifeguard from Bondi beach on the topic of Water Safety Across Borders. All of the lectures are still available by clicking here.

Trainers, Assessors, Instructors, Branches and Clubs

Communications with Trainers, Assessors, Instructors, Branches and Clubs remains a priority for the organisation at this time. We have increased our presence and interactions on our social media channels and increased the number of editions of eNewsletters including Relay and Members newsletter. We have also continued to receive responses to the Clubs survey and have used these to shape our thoughts on supporting our clubs.

To protect officials, competitors and spectators the National Lifesaving Championships has been cancelled this year, but, we are doing everything we can to ensure that we stage some competitive lifesaving events this year and are planning on the 2021 championships being really special.

For everyone

The relaxing of lockdown restrictions was always going to be a critical time for us to promote water safety messages. We were very conscious that individuals were inevitably going to head to the coast, parks, lakes or beauty spots, and we were eager to make them conscious of the risk that water poses. In addition to the Lifechanger-Lifesaver online training, we focussed on 5 key messages for people to remember from the guidance we developed with Swim England and British Triathlon, creating a web page to support the messages.  This can be viewed by clicking here.

We also focussed some of our safety messages on water around the home, as inevitably families in the current environment  were spending more time in their homes and gardens, and when the temperatures rise, they enjoying paddling pools, hot tubs and residential swimming pool. Lucy Herd supported us with an emotional and heartfelt message about her son Jack, who drowned in their garden pond.

RLSS Direct has remained open during the month, offering a discount on some products. A range of essential equipment to manage in the COVID-19 environment has been sourced to support our customers. Take a look at our products to keep activity safe.

Drowning Prevention Week 

We have continued to push ahead with our plans to protect the public and promote Drowning Prevention Week from the 12 -19 June. This is a really important campaign for raising the awareness of water safety and sharing lifesaving tips and do our utmost to reduce the number of deaths related to drowning each year. We have made some alterations to the resources so that they can be used in a home environment as well as at schools, swim centres and leisure centres to reflect the current situation. The resources can be downloaded here.

Can you play your role and help us get to 700 people that post water safety images during DPW – find out more. 

For the Future

The next few weeks and months are going to critically important for both the leisure industry and for our mission to spread the word to enjoy being in, on or around water safely. Our guidance to support activity resuming, Drowning Prevention Week and supporting the venues, will be our key priorities over the next few weeks but we are constantly researching new projects, initiatives and exclusive offers for our members so keep an eye on our social media channels for more information. 

For now

We continue to furlough 70% of our workforce, bringing back individuals with a specific specialism when we need their dedicated expertise. By doing this, we believe that we can support you in the best way possible, ensuring you receive the most appropriate advice and  guidance, the right amount of communications and the highest quality uninterrupted customer service that is critical in these challenging times.  

For you

We continue to be here for you and the industry, and we will do everything we can over the next few months to provide support.  If you have any questions or concerns, please get in contact and our dedicated staff will do their best to help.

Thank you for your kind, supportive comments during this time, we really appreciate them. Stay safe and well.