In the next 30 minutes, your pool can go from good to great. This month we’ve got six low cost changes that can make your pool more efficient, effective and safer… all in just a few minutes.
Label Your Emergency Phone – Next time you see a 911 call on the news, try to interpret the discussion without reading the captions. Emergency operators have a tough job deciphering the information from the panicky caller. If there’s an emergency at your pool, make their appropriate response a bit easier by including a simple sign by your emergency phones. First, make sure your new sign shows how to dial 911. This seems easy, but if your phone requires additional buttons to dial-out you had better make that clear. Second, post a quick script your caller can read through to easily tell the operator your address, where to park and enter, and how to find their location once inside the building. You can save seconds, if not minutes with a well thought out description.
Organize the Lap Swimmers – Your lifeguards aren’t lane jockey’s and it’s not their job to police the lap swimmers. That doesn’t stop requests from weekend warriors to move slower swimmers to other lanes. Stop this request dead in its tracks. Laminate a few pieces of paper to label lap lanes. Slow, Medium, Fast… Fast, Faster, Fastest… whatever you choose. Add a few for closed lanes, water walking and swim lessons. This allows your lifeguards to do what they do best… lifeguard.
Diapers Delivered – There are a lot of ways to encourage patrons to put their kids in swim diapers (here’s the full article), but the easiest is just to give them diapers. Stock them everywhere. In the locker rooms, in the family rest rooms, by any changing table, at the front desk and under every lifeguard chair. Forget the cost. It pales in comparison to the expense associated with a shutdown day due to a … let’s just call it a Code Brown.
Add an Extra Trash Can – While you’re in the locker rooms, add a trash can by each exit door. Patrons have been coached in good handwashing behaviors, including not touching door handles at points of exit. This means lots of them take a paper towel with them to exit the door. Ever see a pile of paper towels by the exit of a bathroom? That’s why. Their quest for cleanliness has ignited their closeted littering habits. Throw a trash can right next to the door in anticipation of their well-intentioned littering.
Clean the Probes – Your chemical controller operates based on information gathered by chemical probes; those little sticks stuck into your test stream of water. Those probes are actually very expensive electronic water testers, and they require your regular attention to operate optimally. Grab the manual for your chemical feed system and read about the timing and process of cleaning and calibrating your probes. When you stick to that schedule your pool operates more effectively and efficiently. Clean water and a better bottom line in one fell swoop.
Auto Text the Team – Let’s face it, your crew doesn’t pick up the phone when you call. It’s not you, it’s them. Our young staff are part of a generation of call screeners, and it turns out to be a huge issue when you’re short staffed. Take five minutes and add all of their numbers to your cell phone now. Create a quick group text and only use it when you’re in a pinch. Be sure to remind them not to reply-all.
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