Summary

The ambient noise level of indoor pools can be very high, particularly when young children are present. While this noise is unpleasant for users, it can become a health and safety issue for workers, whether they are lifeguards or instructors.

Work in a noisy environment always raises the risk of hearing loss. But indoor pools are locations where communication is essential, whether for instruction, for conveying safety guidelines, but also for such things as communication between lifeguards in the event of an accident.

The aim of the present project is to evaluate the noise exposure level of workers assigned to a few representative workstations in order to document the situation in Québec in a preliminary way. Also, to have an idea of the potential risks linked to communication in a noisy environment, ambient noise measurements were taken to complete the dosimetric results obtained.

In all, 11 subjects in 5 different pools were evaluated performing their duties. The jobs evaluated were: free-swim lifeguards, swimming class lifeguards, and swim coaches. The results obtained show that when the ambient noise level is high, which was measured in 3 of the 5 visited pools, the workstations where speaking was necessary forced the workers to raise their voices to dosimetric levels above 100 dB(A).

While of limited scope, the preliminary results of this study demonstrate the OHS issue related to noise in swimming pools. Awareness of the problem will make it easier to prioritize the efforts to improve pool acoustics, thus reducing the issue of workers' hearing, but mainly the risks related to noise interference on listening and communication.