Is your waterfront safe? Creating an emergency action plan.

All camp staff must be able to handle accidents appropriately and efficiently. An emergency action plan helps directors and staff know what actions each person is responsible for in an emergency. This knowledge is especially important at the camp waterfront.

To create a safe waterfront:

* Hire competent, experienced, and properly certified staff. Staff members supervising aquatic activities should be trained to enforce safety regulations, provide instruction, and identify and manage all environmental hazards.

* Teach first aid and CPR to all staff before camp begins. (The American Red Cross offers a nine-hour Community First Aid and Safety Course that includes first aid and CPR for adults, infants, and children.) Also teach waterfront staff the American Red Cross Waterfront Lifeguarding Module and provide training specific to your camp's unique situations.

* Use appropriate signs and barriers; secure and define the areas for activities.

* Use a check-in/check-out system, such as a "buddy board."

* Post all rules and warnings pertaining to use of equipment and facilities.

* Check equipment, facilities, and grounds daily.

* Review and practice emergency procedures often.

* Create an emergency action plan.

Create an emergency action plan

American Camping Association standards call for a written, rehearsed emergency action plan for all aquatics programs. To create a plan, consider your resources, the camp layout, and the emergency situations that could occur. Then list basic emergency procedures.

Resources

* How will staff communicate with each other? Will they use hand signals, whistles, boat horns, walkie-talkies, cellular telephones, or a public address system?

* Are there first aid supplies, including decontamination supplies, latex gloves, pocket masks, or bag-valve masks?

* Does your camp have back boards; rescue tubes; reach poles; and masks, fins and snorkels? Is there scuba equipment and someone who is certified to dive? Are fire extinguishers nearby? Is there a rescue boat or personal watercraft available for an emergency?

Camp layout

* Provide local Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel with a map showing the roads and paths into the camp.

* Establish a meeting place at a central location in the camp.

Types of emergencies

Water emergencies include distressed or missing swimmers and spinal injuries. Campers can also become ill at the waterfront. Seizures, diabetic emergencies, and breathing difficulties are all possibilities. There might be tornados, thunder storms, earthquakes, or floods.

Basic procedures

Although you need specific plans for each waterfront area (swimming, smallcraft, trips), some procedures will appear in all plans:

* Sound the alarm.

* Clear the area.

* Campers and nonessential staff meet at a predetermined location.

* Count everyone in camp.

* One person, usually the camp director or public relations director, serves as the camp spokesperson. This person makes all official announcements regarding the situation and is the only person who speaks to the media.

* Hold a debriefing for staff. During a crisis, emotions run high, and the stress and danger levels are also extremely high. Staff members involved need time and support to return to normal. Professional posttraumatic stress counselors may be needed to help staff through the grieving process when a major incident occurs.

This emergency action plan can easily be modified for individual camps and for more specific situations. An emergency action plan for a smallcraft area should include, in addition to rescuing the people, readying the rescue craft and securing the downed craft. An emergency action plan for trips should include the locations and telephone numbers of emergency medical services along the trip route. Trip plans should also include responses to uncontrollable dangers, such as flooding and other river hazards.

Train staff to use the plan

Staff must be well trained in order to properly respond to an aquatic emergency. A camp's emergency action plan should be written, explained, and demonstrated during precamp training. The camp director should discuss and practice the plan with all staff several times during the camp season. The plan must be practiced, using many different scenarios, until staff can react automatically. Directors should remember that drills on the waterfront can be terrifying to campers. Campers should not be present during these exercises.

If the emergency action plan is posted in several accessible places, including by all telephones, first aid kits, and walkie-talkies, and if staff are well-trained, it is unlikely that any of its steps will be forgotten in an emergency.

If there is a local search and rescue dive team, the camp director should locate and contact it before camp opens. The team may need to assist camp staff if there is a missing swimmer or a major smallcraft accident.

While the camp waterfront is attractive and offers many benefits, it can also be dangerous. Many injuries, deaths, and close calls in a camp can be prevented by detailed planning. Evaluate your camp's emergency action plans and change what doesn't work. Take the time to preplan and make your waterfront safe this summer.

References

American Camping Association. (1993). Camp Boating: Program and Curriculum Guidelines. Martinsville, IN: Author.

American Camping Association. (1994). A Training Program for Rowing Instructors. Martinsville, IN: Author. 19-21.

American Red Cross. (1995). Community Water Safety. St. Louis, MO: Mosby. 19-35.

American Red Cross. (1995). Lifeguarding Today. St. Louis, MO: Mosby. 90-100, 227-258.

American Red Cross. (1981). Canoeing and Kayaking. American Red Cross. 2.1-2.18.

Ellis & Associates. (1994). National Pool and Waterpark Lifeguard/CPR Training. Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. 22-29, 114-117.

Girl Scouts of the USA. Safety Wise. New York, NY: Author. 109-117.

Priest, L. (1988). How Safe Is Your Waterfront? National Aquatics Journal 4, (3).

YMCA. (1994). On the Guard II. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. 89-101.

Susan McConnell is a standards visitor for the American Camping Association. She is an instructor for several American Red Cross programs, including Water Safety, Canoeing, Lifeguarding, and First Aid/CPR. Susan has directed Girl Scout camps for 15 years. She is an Aquatics Council master clinician in waterfront management and is an elementary physical education specialist and health coordinator for Milwaukee Public Schools.