Seeing things clearly: many operators fail to test one of their lifeguards' most basic abilities--sight. Here's how to set up an inexpensive vision-screening program.(Risk Management)(www.visualfitness.com)(Park District Risk Management Agency program)

As a facility operator, you spend countless hours preparing your lifeguards and certifying their rescue, first aid, CPR, AED, and oxygen skills. But there's another key checkpoint that should be added to that list, one too many operators forget--vision screening.

If your lifeguards' vision prevents them from clearly seeing their scanning zone, they are less likely to recognize a patron in distress and will not have the chance to use any of the previously mentioned skills. Put another way, if you knew one of your lifeguards could not see the expressions on the faces of the patrons in their scanning zone, would you let them lifeguard? The answer, of course, is that no manager would let a lifeguard into the chair without that essential ability. So the real question operators should ask themselves is, "How do I know if my lifeguards can set?"

Since 1995, the Park District Risk Management Agency (PDRMA) has been involved in a lifeguard vision-screening program developed in conjunction with the Visual Fitness Institute (VFI). PDRMA, a self-insurance risk pool comprised of 150 park and recreation agencies in Illinois, represents 135 separate aquatics facilities, which employ about 2,000 seasonal lifeguards.

In 2004, approximately 40 percent of PDRMA member facilities participated in the vision-screening program. As a result, almost 1,250 lifeguards had their vision tested. Failure rates ranged from 0 at many venues to eight at a 50-lifeguard facility. The average failure rate was four percent. In other words, about one in 25 lifeguards did not have the minimum require of 20/30 uncorrected or corrected vision. (The 20/30 minimum standard is what police officers and firefighters use.)

The program developed by VFI is convenient and easy to use. It costs around $3 per lifeguard and can be administered by the facility manager or supervisor. Here's how it works: An updated order form is sent to all PDRMA members in the early spring of each season. The facilities order the screening kit directly from VFI. The kit contains instructions, vision charts, a wall mounting hook, and a 10-foot measuring device.

There are three different versions of the chart so the answers cannot be memorized. The chart is hung on the wall 10 feet from the lifeguard. The lifeguard keeps both eyes open and reads the lowest line possible on the chart. The manager, who does not know the correct answers, circles the lowest line on ...