Training daze: the waterpark industry should develop standards for training water ride operators.(FROM THE EDITOR)(Editorial)

Fractured skulls, amputated feet and bruised vertebrae. Not exactly the stuff of waterpark promotional brochures, but they all happened on water rides in the United States and Canada. And they all made quite a splash in local and even national media.

Headlines such as "Boy's Feet Amputated After Water Slide Accident" or "Girl Knocked Unconscious at Waterpark" create the kind of word-of-mouth that marketers dread and attorneys love.

But many of these injuries could have been avoided if the person running the ride--typically a young operator--had been better trained. In fact, the girl whose face was all but shattered was the victim of a water ride operator who sent her down the slide too soon. She and her brother slammed into their dad at the bottom of the slide.

The waterpark industry has made it very clear that it intends to continue to employ 15-year-old lifeguards. In this issue of Aquatics International, writer Rin-rin Yu offers an in-depth look at the pros and cons of doing so. I disagree with the practice of hiring such young people for such important positions of responsibility. But I can respect the economic and staffing arguments.

What I can't respect, and what no one in the industry should tolerate, is hiring very young workers and then failing to train them properly. When it comes to waterparks, that training goes beyond the ultimate responsibility of lifeguarding. It includes the equally vital responsibility of operating rides properly--of paying attention to what's going on ...