As patronage at Geelong's seven Swim, Sport and Leisure centres spikes during summer, the City is reminding community members to treat lifeguards and other employees with respect and care - not aggression.
Lauren is sharing her experiences about the impact of abuse on frontline workers as part of the City's Occupational Violence and Aggression (OVA) awareness campaign .
The shift supervisor at several centres says lifeguards enforce a number of rules in and around pools in order to keep everyone safe.
We have the Watch Around Water policy and it is so important so that we don't have three-year-olds in the water by themselves or falling off the side [of the pool]. It might only be knee deep, but that's enough for a child to drown and I would never, ever want that to happen.
Lauren says that drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death in children under five.
So, I would much prefer having a hard conversation with a parent about keeping their child safe than consoling them if something has happened to the child.
Lauren says there is also a strict height requirement for the two big waterslides at Leisurelink.
A lot of parents will come in, promising their child that they will be able to go on the really cool waterslide, but unfortunately, they are below the height requirement [and can't ride]. This quite often will turn into a big piece of conflict.Interestingly, we often have middle aged men, that have children with them, getting angry and upset with 16-year-olds, 18-year-olds, 21-year-olds [employees].
Lauren recalls a particular incident recently that left her and a number of employees visibly shaken.
There was a patron yelling at a lifeguard so I asked him to come over into a quieter area and he immediately started going at me, like in my face, waving his hands aggressively, telling me to hand over a wristband and that his child will be going on the waterslide.He said, 'Give me a wristband now, you have to give it to me!' and I began to get quite shaken.
The father continued to verbally abuse Lauren and the receptionist, including for talking to his son.
He was quite significantly under the height requirement, but the parent just pointed at the wristbands and was like, 'You'll be handing this to me - it is your job.I just felt like I couldn't get out of it and I explained to him that it's a manufacturing requirement - if he's not tall enough, he's not safe to go on it and I want your child to go home safely.
I also don't want to be put in a position in the Coroner's Court justifying why I ignored the manufacturer's instructions.
Just the look in his eyes; it just felt like he wanted to become more aggressive and I had to keep stepping back and step behind the counter in order for myself to feel safe.
After a lot of back and forth, the man left with his son.
My whole body was shaking, and it wasn't until I got home and I told my partner about it, that I burst into tears.I did feel like at that moment he could have physically hurt me or someone else - something wasn't right there.
One of the lifeguards that was spoken to quite aggressively, it was her second shift. She hadn't worked on the slides before and that really upset me because she hasn't raised any interest in working on the slides since.
I don't blame her to be honest. I didn't really want to go to work the next day after that happened. And then it's the fear of, you know, next time you have to say 'no' to a parent, is it going to escalate to that extent again?
Lauren wants the community to remember that lifeguards and pool employees are human too.
The majority of the patrons are so kind and so caring, but it's just remembering that we are here to do a job and keep you safe around water.And we do have the training and the knowledge, whether [the lifeguard is aged] 16 or 45. We want people to enjoy their time at the centre and go home happy and healthy.
Greater Geelong Mayor Stretch Kontelj OAM
It takes courage to bring up such personal experiences like this and I thank Lauren for giving the community insights about what our Swim, Sport and Leisure employees face every day.Our campaign aims to raise awareness of the Occupational Violence and Aggression abuse council workers face as they serve the community.
Lifeguards and leisure centre employees are here to help - not to be harmed.
Councillor Chris Burson
Please treat our employees with respect - they're someone's neighbour, friend or parent.They're doing vital work to make sure everyone has a good time and goes home safely.
