Lifeguard shortage not impacting local pools

Jul 4, 2022 | 6:30 AM

A national shortage of lifeguards isn’t limiting Greater Vernon Parks and Recreation programs, as it has in many cities across the country.

There are pages of job postings on employment sites for lifeguard and lifeguard training positions in British Columbia.

Health measures meant to curb the spread of COVID-19 put lifeguard certification and recertification programs on hold, and many lifeguards moved on to new opportunities during the pandemic.

The labour shortage is similar to those seen in the retail sector and at airports.

“I suspect there will be some pools that will not open this summer because of staff shortages,” Barbara Byers, a senior research officer at the Lifesaving Society, said.

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Director of Greater Vernon Parks and Recreation Services, Doug Ross, told Vernon Matters that they were able to navigate those rules and continue to train people.

“Our aquatic team continued to operate the lifeguard training program through-out the pandemic,” Ross said. “The City of Vernon actually won an award from the Life Saving Society of Canada in 2021 for offering the most life saving courses for a community of our size in British Columbia.”

Ross attributes the lack of new lifeguard candidates to a number of factors that are affecting availability of workers in all sectors of the economy.

“I think it is multi-faceted. These lifeguarding positions that had typically been very secure for young people, back in 2020, we had to close our facilities and unfortunately had to lay-off all of our aquatic staff,” Ross stated.

When aquatic services were re-opened, several staff didn’t return due to the uncertainty and found employment in other sectors. Ross notes a big part of the shortage was the interruption in training programs resulting in a lag in certified lifeguards.

Cost is also a factor according to the Life Saving Society of Canada. The average cost to be a certified lifeguard is sitting around $1,000 plus about a two-year time committment.

Some municipalities like West Vancouver are undertaking pilot projects to waive the cost of lifeguard training, while others are offering higher wages and incentives.

Under the Canadian Union of Public Employee’s (CUPE) 626 Local agreement, Vernon lifeguard positions pay $19.76 per hour.

“We are seeing challenges across the board. We do have some full time positions, but also several part time positions. This year is a little different because the Lakeview Pool is going to be closed due to the revitalization project, and because of that, we don’t need as many staff this year,” Ross said.

by Kevin Rothwell

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