We went to the pool for some water rescue training last night...

Here's what I saw:

http://19k.blogspot.com/2007/08/no-breath-holding.html


Words fail me.

"...Words fail me..."

Me too...

My only guess is that the people who run those pools want to pack as many people in as possible. Those who actually swim or dive would interfere with that I reckon.

Tim

But if you stop breathing, there are some folks out there who may just forget how to start breathing again.

The pool owners obvisously don't want any potential future lawsuits.

Yeah, namely the people who came up with the idea of no breathing underwater.




Yes. With pools and swimming (and swimming underwater) being a relatively new thing (people not being used to these things) I can see where they might have reason to worry. Better to not allow breathing underwater and let's wait and see how this new swimming pool water/human mixture thing works out.

Seriously... if law suits were an issue, imagine the crackpot that would sue because their child, while not prohibited from swimming underwater, was prohibited from breathing underwater, and thus drowned.

It is a safety issue.

When people submerge and hold their breath for a period of time, it can be difficult for the Life Guards to determine whether someone is in trouble or simply holding their breath. In larger pools or crowed pools, when someone is submerged and not moving for 30 seconds to a minute or more, the Life Guard must watch the individual closely to determine if the individual is really in trouble, thus potentially diverting their attention from a true emergency.

Pete

And this is a problem? Can we cite evidence that this is a rampant problem or is it another case of "it happened once or twice, so it's an "epidemic" that Must Be Stopped At All Costs?

It reminds me of the cell phone ban at gas stations. There's NEVER been a case where a cell phone triggered a gasoline explosion accidentally. NEVER. There's NO EVIDENCE AT ALL to support any ban on cell phones at gas stations.

Ahhh good observation Pete. But it's not truly a "safety" issue is it? I think it's more of an employer/labor relations issue: the Lifeguard Union must be saying "Look. Our lifeguards are suffering from eye strain and mental stress. Do you realize they actually have to watch people underwater to determine whether or not they're ok? We need to cut that out...that underwater thing..."

I see the future for your pool Martin. In ten years, those signs will be changed to "NO SWIMMING"

Uhmmm.....I'm not so sure about that... I think I read somewhere that there was this guy pumping gas....he was just standing there, smoking a cigarette, when his cell phone rang. Isn;t that the one where the pump caught fire and blew up?

hehehe

As the sign says strictly 'No Breath Holding' beside the pool and if someone drowns in the pool, the pool owners have a legal get out. As someone can only drown in the pool by forgetting to breath either consciously or unconsciously and the sign says strictly 'No breath holding' then I would suspect that legally the owners could not be prosecuted for anyone drowning in that pool.
If the sign said ‘No Conscious Breath Holding’, then the owners could be prosecuted for an unconscious breath holding incident. i.e. an unconscious drowning incident.