Why did an alarm go off when i was swimming at my local swimming pool?

Question

When i was swimming at the weekend with my brother a really loud alarm went off and we had to get out of the pool. Does anyone know what this is for and why they do this? It wasted about 20 minutes of our swimming time aswell. A waste of £2.80 in my eyes. Any ideas?

Answer 1

More than likely it was time to take your pills....;) jk

How are we supposed to know from your two sentence question..?

Answer 2

That's usually either for "adult swim only" or so they can search the pool for anything that isn't supposed to be there and remove it.

Answer 3

The alarm was probably an Incident alarm which was activated by one of the lifeguards on pool to signal emergency action was being taken. The alarm, which is sounded when a lifeguard enters the water to perform a rescue, sounds to alert the other lifeguards to clear the pool. As well as the audible siren in the pool hall, the alarm will also be heard in various other locations around the leisure centre to signal to other staff to respond to the poolside. On hearing the alarm, senior members of staff (i.e. the manager or SLA) will take a large first aid kit and resuscitator so that further medical treatment can be given if needed. In some larger leisure centres, like in the one where I work, announcements are made over the PA system, Radios and Internal phones - “Staff Announcement Code 100”.  Usually after a rescue the swimmer does not need medical treatment and is able to walk away. The alarm will be silenced and reset, and swimmers allowed back into the pool. In other cases emergency treatment such as CPR will be started and the emergency services called. In some cases, in order for forms to be filled out and investigations to be carried out the pool may be closed. In your case you were lucky that you were able to go back in the pool after the incident!

Answer 4

sometimes that means that its time for "adult only swim"

Answer 5

It sounds like a safety precaution. I know it can be annoying but, on occassion, it can save a life. I would rather lose a couple of quid, than think that they kept the pool open just to satisfy us paying punters....Perhaps they thought that one of the swimmers was in trouble.

Answer 6

This can be for the removal of 'foreign substances 'from the pool. It can be particularly evident when there are young children in the pool.

If the lifeguards are trying to get something out of the pool with a large net then that could have been the reason...