‘PARTNERING WITH THE NDPA’
By Emily Wujcik
The Na t i o n a l Drown i n g Prevention Alliance (NDPA) has launched its free Aquatic and Pool Professional Toolkit. This marks another advancement for pool service professionals. This free toolkit has numerous resources that are available to you to share with your fellow pool service professionals and clients. These resources have been created to further the industry’s commitment to water safety and to help educate your clients on ways to be safer in and around the water.
NDPA has been a strong advocate at the forefront of water safety initiatives with the mission to elevate awareness to educate, advocate, innovate, and equip the public to prevent drownings. This toolkit is another step in the right direction in continuing efforts to decrease the number of drowning accidents. This Pool and Spa Toolkit is a free, accessible resource designed with the needs of pool service professionals in mind. There are a variety of resources available in this toolkit including posters about water safety that are available by age group and activity. There are also checklists available for things like finding the right swimming lesson program. This is a valuable resource that you can share with your clients, and it can help walk them through finding the right swimming lesson provider for them and their family. There is also a pool safety checklist that reviews barriers and alarms, safety equipment, and pool maintenance. Being able to provide this information to your clients helps you promote a safer space in and around their pool.
Making conscious efforts to be inclusive, NDPA have many of its free resources available in both English and Spanish. All of its resources are available to be downloaded, which means that you don’t have to print out all of the materials yourself. By making them available online, you not only can save time and money printing them and finding what you think your clients might be interested in, but you can also share all of the information and resources with your clients. This allows them to search, find, and use what they need.
Implementing the Toolkit
As a pool service professional, you have direct contact with your clients, and you have built a rapport with them. You are a master at what you do, and now you can add in additional services and resources about water safety easily and with little to no additional cost and time.
Educating your clients about water safety is important, and you can share the toolkit with them. While the toolkit is a great resource, you are the one who is able to provide the expertise and personal touch when you share this knowledge with your clients.
You can also print and post this information on your website, on social media, and physical storefront, if you have one. There are pre-made social posts you can use and share. This allows you to share the water safety message without having to spend valuable time, energy, and money to help keep your clients and community safer. You are promoting a water safety culture by doing this. This fosters a culture of safety that goes beyond the services you provide and can show your clients that you care deeply about the work you do and keeping everyone safer.
Talking About Water Safety
Water safety is incredibly important
Pool and Spa Tool Kit for your clients, and it can sometimes feel like you aren’t sure where to start the conversation. Using, bringing up, and sharing the toolkit can be a great way to start that conversation. Highlighting the importance of making intentional moves to keep everyone safer in and around the water often opens that door to talk more about water safety. Now that you have started the conversation, you can continue by sharing the different resources.
Having an understanding and working knowledge of what the resources will help that conversation continue to flow and once again, you can share all of these resources for free! You can share the posters and checklists during your service visits, and while it doesn’t have to be a long conversation, it can be an impactful one. If you have any stories and statistics, you can personalize the message. This can add a personal touch that can resonate with your clients.
Beyond the Toolkit
The creation of this toolkit involved collaboration with various stakeholders in the pool service industry with you in mind. This collective effort works toward the industrywide commitment to reducing drowning incidents and promoting safe enjoyment of water activities. This toolkit is not an exhaustive list of resources. If you have any questions or any ideas of what additional resources you would like to see and use, you can contact NDPA anytime.
You can get involved with NDPA beyond these resources. You can become a member for free to get access to even more resources, or you can become a premium member for an annual fee to gain access to additional resources and content.
Visit www.ndpa.org.
