Lifesaving is the act involving rescue, resuscitation and first aid. It often refers to water safety and aquatic rescue; however, it could include ice rescue, flood and river rescue, swimming pool rescue and other emergency medical services. Lifesaving also refers to

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

where lifesavers compete based on skills, technique, speed and teamwork. Lifesaving activities specialized in oceanic environment is called surf lifesaving or coastal lifesaving. Those who participate in lifesaving activities as a volunteer are called lifesavers, and those who are employed to professionally perform lifesaving activities are called

lifeguard A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and Cardiopulmonary ...

s. Surf lifesaving is a particularly common application. Lifesaving can also be developed as an aquatic sport.

History

Origins

In the early nineteenth century, most seamen did not swim; swimming was not considered a recreational sport. Working aloft or trimming sails was always dangerous as just one single misjudged step could send a man crashing to the deck or over the side. Normally the odds of rescue were slim to none at all. Typically, sailing vessels could not change sails or lower a boat quickly nor did their crews practice rescue maneuvers. Additionally, a drowning man in anything more than flat and calm water was hard to spot. On Wednesday 12 September 1804, the log of

HMS Victory HMS ''Victory'' is a 104-gun first-rate wooden sailing ship of the line. With years of service as of , she is the world's List of oldest surviving ships, oldest naval vessel still in Ship commissioning, commission. She was ordered for the Roy ...

, recorded a unique rescue at sea, "Moderate Breezes and hazy, shifted the main sails, at 9 tacked at 9.55 James Archibald, Seaman fell overboard, downed Cutter and got him safe in, being saved by Mr. Edward Flin masters mate, jumping overboard after him." Edward Flin's action was witnessed by Lord Horatio Nelson, who was so impressed by Flin's heroic action, that he promoted him on the spot to Lieutenant in HMS Bittern. On 4 October 1843 a similar mishap was recorded in a log entry of the frigate USS United States (1797). "From 4 to 8 moderate breezes and clear weather at 5.22 David Black (Cooper) fell overboard, hove to with maintop sail to the mast and sent the Barge & 2nd Cutter in search of him... At 1030 hove to and hoisted up the 2nd Cutter all search proving ineffectual"

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works ar ...

, who joined the USS United States in Oahu, as an Ordinary Seaman, later used this incident in his novel White Jacket. There David Black becomes “Bungs” a man ironically charged with maintaining the frigate’s cork life-buoys; and is said to have exclaimed “I will never go a loft, and don’t intend to fall overboard.” Melville adds the next day Black fell over the side and after a five hour search the frigate resumed course. The first life saving organization, the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, was established in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1824 by Sir William Hillary. While living on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

in 1808, he became aware of the treacherous nature of the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

, with many ships being wrecked around the Manx coast. He soon drew up plans for a national lifeboat service manned by trained crews, but received little response from the Admiralty. However, on appealing to the more philanthropic members of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

society, the plans were adopted and, with the help of two members of Parliament ( Robert Wilson and George Hibbert), the ''National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck'' was founded in 1824. One of the Institution's first rescues was of the packet ''St George'', which had foundered on Conister Rock at the entrance to Douglas Harbour. Hillary took part in the successful operation and everyone was ultimately rescued. Thirty years later the Institution's title was changed to the ''Royal National Lifeboat Institution'' and the first of the new lifeboats to be built was stationed at Douglas in recognition of Hillary's work.

Spread

Similar services were established in other countries, in Belgium (1838), Denmark (1848), United States (1848), Sweden (1856), France (1865), Germany (1885), Turkey (1868), Russia (1872), Italy (1879) and Spain (1880). In 1891 the Royal Life Saving Society was created to affiliate British and Irish lifesaving and lifeguarding clubs. It expanded its operations to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1894. In 1913 the DLRG was founded in Germany. The first international lifesaving conference was held in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

, France in 1878, but it was not until 1910 that the first international lifesaving organisation, FIS (Fédération Internationale de Sauvetage Aquatique), was founded. In 1971 Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States founded another international organization called World Life Saving (WLS). FIS and WLS merged into a new organisation, International Life Saving Federation (ILS) in 1993 with its headquarters in

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

, Belgium.

International Life Saving Federation

The International Life Saving Federation ( ILS) was established on 27 March 1910 in Paris, France. The ILS is primarily known as the world authority and head in the global effort to "prevent drowning and regroups national life saving organisations/federations aiming at improving water safety, water rescue, lifesaving and lifeguarding and lifesaving sport".

Activities

Surf lifesaving developed in Australia and is often simply called "lifesaving". It focuses on drowning prevention and rescue in a coastal setting. General lifesaving does not limit its activities to beaches - its aim is to promote water safety around ponds, lakes, rivers, pools, in the home, at school and in any other applicable environments. This is why landlocked countries like Switzerland, Austria, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Czech Republic and Slovakia, are also full members of ILS. Lifesavers are volunteers and usually stationed at a club house. They provide training for lifesaver/lifeguard qualifications as well as educating the general public.

As a sport

Lifesaving has become a growing sport in many countries. The sport can be contested in swimming pools or on beaches in the surf, each being a separate discipline of the sport. Lifesaving is one of the official sports of The World Games, a quadrennial multi-sport event for sports and disciplines that are not in the Olympic programme.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure used during Cardiac arrest, cardiac or Respiratory arrest, respiratory arrest that involves chest compressions, often combined with artificial ventilation, to preserve brain function ...

, otherwise known as CPR is the most common form of life saving. CPR can be easily understood through this simplified table.

DRSABCD

All collapsed victims should be carefully assessed to decide what emergency care is needed. This method of assessment is known as DRSABCD, this method is explained in the following table.

References

{{Authority control 1824 establishments in England Protective service occupations English inventions