Lifesaving Awards
Encyclopedia
The Royal Life Saving Society UK
awards several lifesaving awards indicating competence and ability.
. It is open to those age 14 years of age and over, and consists of test of resuscitation, theory questions on water safety, self rescue, and rescue principles, and a practical swimming pool based assessment.
The tested individual must also be able to answer questions on Water Safety and Rescue Techniques including Priorities of Rescue and Survival in Water.
The award is then valid for two years, after which it must be renewed along with any previous awards that may have expired.
For the Bronze Cross a candidate must hold or have held a bronze medallion or higher. The theory portion consists of eight to twelve questions from the lifesaving manual. Practical demonstrations require a rescue close to land, rescue further from land, resuscitation rescue.
The silver cross requires all those for the bronze cross plus a contact rescue.
who has obtained their Award of Merit, Open Water, and Life Support 3. In addition, candidates must be over 16 in order to take part. The exam is notoriously hard and demands a high level of technical and physical capability from the participant. It consists of six main parts:
The tested individual must also be able to answer questions on Water Safety and Rescue Techniques including Priorities of Rescue and Survival in Water.
The award is then valid for two years, after which it must be renewed along with any previous awards that may have expired.
Royal Life Saving Society UK
The Royal Lifesaving Society UK, also known as Lifesavers, is the governing body for lifesaving and lifeguarding in the United Kingdom. The Royal Lifesaving Society also exists in the Republic of Ireland under the title RLSS Ireland.-History:...
awards several lifesaving awards indicating competence and ability.
Bronze Medallion
The Bronze Medallion is the flagship award of the Royal Life Saving Society UKRoyal Life Saving Society UK
The Royal Lifesaving Society UK, also known as Lifesavers, is the governing body for lifesaving and lifeguarding in the United Kingdom. The Royal Lifesaving Society also exists in the Republic of Ireland under the title RLSS Ireland.-History:...
. It is open to those age 14 years of age and over, and consists of test of resuscitation, theory questions on water safety, self rescue, and rescue principles, and a practical swimming pool based assessment.
Award of Merit
The Award of Merit is available to any lifesaver who has obtained their Bronze Medallion and Life Support 2. In addition, candidates must be over 15 in order to take part. The exam demands a high level of technical and physical capability from the participant and consists of six main parts:- The Water Based Rescue - where the individual must implement swimming and towingTowingTowing is the process of pulling or drawing behind a chain, line, bar or some other form of couplings. Towing is most visibly performed by road vehicles, but anything from waterborne vessels to tractors to people can tow cargo. Troop carrying and cargo carrying gliders were towed behind powered...
techniques to rescue one casualty 15-20m from safety. - Non-Contact Rescue - the well-known "timed swim" where the individual must swim 75m to the casualty and use their clothing to towTowingTowing is the process of pulling or drawing behind a chain, line, bar or some other form of couplings. Towing is most visibly performed by road vehicles, but anything from waterborne vessels to tractors to people can tow cargo. Troop carrying and cargo carrying gliders were towed behind powered...
the casualty 75m to safety, all within five minutes. - Contact Rescue - where the individual must swim 25m to a conscious casualty and implement a contact tow to bring them 75m to safety.
- Resuscitation Rescue - where an unconsciousUnconsciousnessUnconsciousness is the condition of being not conscious—in a mental state that involves complete or near-complete lack of responsiveness to people and other environmental stimuli. Being in a comatose state or coma is a type of unconsciousness. Fainting due to a drop in blood pressure and a...
casualty must be towed 30m to safety and resuscitatedCardiopulmonary resuscitationCardiopulmonary resuscitation is an emergency procedure which is performed in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person in cardiac arrest. It is indicated in those who are unresponsive...
. - Initiative Test - where there are two casualties up to 25m from safety in various situations that must be dealt with within at least two minutes, with the candidate being asked to subsequently answer questions regarding their actions.
The tested individual must also be able to answer questions on Water Safety and Rescue Techniques including Priorities of Rescue and Survival in Water.
The award is then valid for two years, after which it must be renewed along with any previous awards that may have expired.
Open Water
The open water life saving awards are issued in the form of the Bronze Cross indicating competence and the Silver Cross indicating proficiency. These awards are issued following a test combining theory questions and practical swimming demonstrations.For the Bronze Cross a candidate must hold or have held a bronze medallion or higher. The theory portion consists of eight to twelve questions from the lifesaving manual. Practical demonstrations require a rescue close to land, rescue further from land, resuscitation rescue.
The silver cross requires all those for the bronze cross plus a contact rescue.
Distinction
The Distinction Award is available to any lifesaverLifesaving
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 where lifesavers compete...
who has obtained their Award of Merit, Open Water, and Life Support 3. In addition, candidates must be over 16 in order to take part. The exam is notoriously hard and demands a high level of technical and physical capability from the participant. It consists of six main parts:
- Land Based Rescue - where the individual must rescue two casualtiesCasualty (person)A casualty is a person who is the victim of an accident, injury, or trauma. The word casualties is most often used by the news media to describe deaths and injuries resulting from wars or disasters...
from the side who are 2-10m from safety. - Water Based Rescue - where the individual must implement swimming and towingTowingTowing is the process of pulling or drawing behind a chain, line, bar or some other form of couplings. Towing is most visibly performed by road vehicles, but anything from waterborne vessels to tractors to people can tow cargo. Troop carrying and cargo carrying gliders were towed behind powered...
techniques to rescue two casualties 15-20m from safety. - Non-Contact Rescue - the well-known "timed swim" where the individual must swim 100m to the casualty and use their clothing to tow the casualty 100m to safety, all within six minutes.
- Contact Rescue - where the individual must swim 50m to a conscious casualty and implement a contact tow to bring them 100m to safety.
- Resuscitation Rescue - where an unconsciousUnconsciousnessUnconsciousness is the condition of being not conscious—in a mental state that involves complete or near-complete lack of responsiveness to people and other environmental stimuli. Being in a comatose state or coma is a type of unconsciousness. Fainting due to a drop in blood pressure and a...
casualty must be towed 45m to safety and resuscitatedCardiopulmonary resuscitationCardiopulmonary resuscitation is an emergency procedure which is performed in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person in cardiac arrest. It is indicated in those who are unresponsive...
. - Initiative Test - where there are three casualties up to 25m from safety in various situations that must be dealt with within at least two minutes, with the candidate being asked to subsequently answer questions regarding their actions.
The tested individual must also be able to answer questions on Water Safety and Rescue Techniques including Priorities of Rescue and Survival in Water.
The award is then valid for two years, after which it must be renewed along with any previous awards that may have expired.