The safest way to prevent exposure to bloodborne pathogens is to never ever come into contact with blood. Unfortunately, that isn’t always an option. At some point you may need to provide medical assistance to someone that is bleeding, or you may be asked to clean up blood spills. When these times come, your best bet for protecting yourself from bloodborne pathogens is using effective personal protective equipment – which is also regularly referred to as PPE.

AED Could Have Prevented Tragedy: A 16-year-old high school basketball player had just made a game-winning shot in overtime when he suddenly collapsed to the floor. Initially, parents, coaches, and players thought it was due to exhaustion or just the excitement of the moment, but they all quickly realized something much more serious had happened.

In the News: An experienced YMCA lifeguard preparing to enlist in the Navy SEAL program blacked out during a breath holding exercise. An on-duty lifeguard at the facility noticed him at the bottom of the pool and was forced to perform CPR.

The Yoni Gottesman Drowning: On August 15, 2005, Yoni Gottesman, a four-year-old boy from Santa Barbara, California, went to his very first day of summer camp. Although he was one of the younger kids at the camp, he did his best to keep up with the other kids.

Real Life Stories: A college student from the northern United States made the decision to spend his summer lifeguarding in hot and humid central Florida. After a late night out, the guard skipped breakfast and arrived for his shift early in the summer season.

Few people outside of the aquatics profession understand how truly exhausting lifeguarding can be. Constant vigilance mixed with environmental elements makes surveillance a chore.

In the News: A woman was found unconscious at the bottom of a lap pool. Employees of the facility quickly removed her and performed CPR until EMS arrived. The woman, who was later found to be a visitor at the facility, was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. Sadly, she died of complications the following evening. An autopsy revealed there was, in fact, no water in the woman’s lungs, and the cause of death was consequentially determined to be heart-related.

In the News: Two young boys aged 12 and 13 drowned in a swimming pool at a youth camp due to extremely cloudy water. The boys went down a slide that dropped into the 13 feet deep end of the pool where they struggled and drowned.

Sauna Fires in the News: A group of men at a popular fitness center decided to spend some time in the sauna to relax after a workout. When they exited the sauna one of the men left the newspaper he was reading on the bench.