Scanning is the systematic watching of the water, beachgoers and their activities. The way in which you scan will be influenced by a number of factors, including:
- beach layout and any special geographical features
- the level of experience and training of the team members on patrol duty
- the number of beachgoers and their activities
- the number of team members and their location
- the shape and size of the surveillance area
- weather and surf conditions affecting visibility.
Note: You can adopt an elevated position and wear polarised sunglasses to improve your effective vision over a greater distance.
Key principles
When scanning, you should move your head, not just your eyes, because looking directly at an object improves vision. You should be able to:
- hear any unusual sounds that might alert you to any risks to swimmers
- hear noises that beachgoers are making
- hear what your colleagues might be saying to you
- identify where other team members are positioned
- notice any unfamiliar smells that might indicate an emergency or hazards to patrons
- notice changing weather conditions
- see the general movements of swimmers and the number of patrons.
Scanning as part of a team
If you have several qualified people available, it is a good idea to divide the beach up into sections or zones that you can each focus on scanning. When you do this, it is good practice to position yourself so that:
- your area overlaps slightly with the areas adjacent to you
- you can still see the person(s) supervising the adjacent area(s) to yours.
Scanning in this way means that in the event of an emergency:
- other people can signal to you if they need assistance
- you are able to maintain scanning of the water when incidents occur by creating more overlap between your respective areas
- you are available to help with crowd control during an incident.
Scanning techniques
Research indicates that drowning can occur in seconds. The less time it takes to scan an area effectively, the better. Lifesavers come to know their local beach’s usual sights and sounds and patterns and rhythms of activity for any given period after patrolling for some time.
When scanning you will need to change your focus to suit your scanning strategy. The different focus types include:
- fixed focus—watch specific people to see what they are doing and listen for anything unusual
- wide focus—use your peripheral vision and side vision, to detect movement and notice activity
- moving focus—move your eyes at a moderate pace across the surveillance area, sweep back and forth to take in environmental conditions that might affect patrol behaviour and safety issues. Use moving focus for short periods only.
Avoiding scanning fatigue
Watching the water for long periods of time is difficult to do. Your effectiveness gradually decreases over time, and you will be less observant the longer you watch. You can avoid fatigue by:
- avoiding staring at the one spot without actually seeing what is happening
- changing your focus
- giving your eyes a rest by focusing momentarily on some distant object or on the horizon
- moving your head and eyes, i.e., not just sweeping with your eyes
- rotating positions with your team members regularly.
Note: It is recommended that scanning from a fixed location is limited to a maximum period of 30 minutes before rotation of personnel or a change of position needs to occur.