2023-07-06 04:30:03
A Paris firefighter monitors swimming at the Butte aux Cailles swimming pool, in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, on June 20, 2019. THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
“I am head of basin since June 12 until September 15 at the town hall of Samoëns (74).
I miss two BNSSA [nageurs sauveteurs], even three (withdrawal, etc.), for July-August, i.e. two full-time months” : this announcement published on Facebook like throwing a bottle into the sea has echoes throughout France.
The same question agitates the teams, half-alarmists, half-resigned to the approach of the increase in summer attendance of the swimming pools: it is neither the increase in the energy bill nor the filling of the pools, but the lack of masters- swimmers. Difficult to quantify the shortage: unions advance a number of four thousand to five thousand vacant positions.
An overestimated assessment, according to other professionals who mainly point to recruitment difficulties in Ile-de-France. “You need to have a good network to find people. The lifeguard has become a rare commodity”, notes Youri Soyer, the director of swimming pools in Melun. The problem spares few employers.
Low attractiveness
“For the past two years, we had already had difficulties before recruiting a pool manager and a lifeguard. For the two seasonal workers we are looking for, we posted an ad at the start of the year »says Violaine Remy, the head of the resource center of the Cœur de Loire intercommunality, which brings together thirty municipalities in Nièvre and manages the two swimming pools of Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire and Donzy.
From one year to the next, the situation is not improving. In the summer of 2022, the cumulative attendance of these two facilities had exceeded 11,500 admissions. This year, for the first time, the Donzy outdoor swimming pool will be open continuously every day. But with the low attractiveness of a rural town, the lack of accommodation to offer and a small pool of trained professionals in the surrounding area, staff will be very difficult to find. The posters pinned to the entrance to the swimming pool have so far not been conclusive.
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Like blue gold, two acronyms serve as shimmering sesame for communities: the national water safety and rescue certificate (BNSSA), which swimmers and rescuers hold after training in sixty to seventy hours on average, and the professional certificate for youth, popular education and sport, specializing in aquatic activities and swimming (BPJEPS AAN), a higher level qualification which designates lifeguards, who are the only people authorized to teach swimming and lead swimming entertainment in the water.
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