USLA: Final Exam

The 50/30 rule recommended by the National Weather Service states, if lightning and thunder are 50 seconds or less apart then the storm is within:

10 miles

To prevent fatigue and provide optimum vigilance lifeguards should take a break of at least______ if surveillance duties last more than one hour.

15 minutes

The Lifesaving Service and Revenue Cutter Service combined to create the U.S. Coast Guard in:

1915

The USLA launched the Lifeguard Agency Certification Program in:

1993

Safe swimming areas should be scanned for problems every:

30 seconds

How many people in America are involved with open water swimming yearly?

80 or more million

Core aspects found in the USLA systems include:

A manual, curriculum and minimum national standards

A swimmer who fights a current will get out of that current if:

A&B

A large number of aquatic rescues depend on all of the following characteristics of the lifeguard except:

Age

Accurate assessment and the recognition of drowning victims is second nature for the professional lifeguard because of:

All of the above

Elements of an after-hours and/ or post season response team include:

All of the above

The distance a traveling rip current moves depends on:

All of the above

The use of flotation devices by weak swimmers is dangerous because:

All of the above

Underwater drop offs cause many rescues because:

All of the above

Which would be characteristics of distressed swimmers?

All of the above

Frontal storms can provide torrential rain, hail, lightning, downburst winds and:

Appear unexpectedly

How far from the area should beach patrons be kept if an explosive device is found?

At least 500 feet

Lifeguard managers coordinate ______ when lifeguards are moved away from the water.

Backup

Open water lifeguards must:

Be 16 yrs old and swim 500 meters in 10 minutes or less

Lifeguards face various emergencies without obvious clues therefore he/she must:

Be adept at anticipating problems

Name the leading tourist destination in the US:

Beaches

What can be done by facility designers to overcome natural hazards?

Both A&B

Which would be the most sensible way to designate a swimming area at a flat water beach?

Buoyed boundary

The hard plastic molded buoy is known as the:

Burnside buoy

Spilling waves are formed:

By swells as they move over a sea floor that ascends gradually beneath them with the crest onto the wave face.

A distress swimmer will be able to:

Call or wave for help

Lifeguarding on a beach is:

Challenging

The earliest organized lifesaving association was established in:

China in 1708

An upward crawling motion demonstrated by a drowning person is known as:

Climbing the ladder

Panicked victims will present limited swimming ability in the surf usually exhibiting an action like:

Climbing the ladder

The Peterson Tube was perfected due to:

Closed cell foam

What is one of the most important actions taken by a lifeguard?

Constant vigilance

A person caught in a river current should swim _____ the current towards shore.

Diagonal across

The drowning process has stages that can be interrupted through intervention. Choose the correct order of this process:

Distress, panic, submersion

The Beach Act required by which agency is to oversee the program that deals with the national water quality testing standard and notification?

EPA

To prevent overuse of preventive actions, lifeguard agencies should:

Establish guidelines

The number one cause of weather- related deaths in the United States is?

Extreme heat

The USLA certification system allows:

Flexibility and specialization

Floating debris in the water is known as:

Flotsam

The primary problem caused by waterspouts is?

Flying debris

Brain death normally occurs within_____ to____ minutes without circulating oxygenated blood:

Four to six

What is the advantage of having electronic communication over other forms of communication?

Full clarity over long distances

Agencies under the USLA Lifeguard Agency Certification have demonstrated adherence to USLA:

Guidelines and standards

A lifeguard working for a certified agency is allowed to lifeguard when:

He/she completes the minimum training to perform the job

What type of strategy counts the number of swimmers in an area of responsibility?

Head counting

Most submersion-drowning victims have healthy hearts that arrest due to:

Hypoxia

Trained lifeguards demonstrate the following characteristics when dealing with emergencies except:

Impulsiveness

Depressions up to several yards in diameter dug into the sand by wave action are called:

Inshore holes

During an emergency a lifeguard ___________ communicate with other lifeguards.

Internally

At least two thirds of lightning caused death occurs in:

June, July, August

Since fresh water is less dense than saltwater, swimmers are:

Less buoyant in freshwater

__________ are generated by a storm that could be a thousand miles from the affected beach.

Long period waves

Fixed and permanent rips pull the hardest when tides are:

Low

Lifeguards handle safety and interactions with beach patrons acting as ___ for their areas.

Managers

The first organized efforts at lifesaving began in Massachusetts in 1786 with the:

Massachusetts Humane Society

Due to thinning budgets lifeguards:

May have to perform many public safety responsibilities

Sudden drowning syndrome is difficult to prevent because of:

No signs of struggle

Flotation devices are blown away from the beach by _____ winds.

Offshore

Why does the USLA not recognize other national programs?

Other programs lack the depth of training for beach lifeguards

Examples of clues that could indicate a potential water problem include:

Overweight and very young people

The most dangerous hazard of entanglement with aquatic weeds and plants is:

Panic

General aquatic environments requiring lifeguards include:

Pools/water parks and open water

Captain Henry Sheefield was touring South Africa and developed the first:

Rescue can

USLA estimates that ____ are the primary source of distress in swimmers in over_____ percent of swimmer rescues:

Rip currents, 80

What negatively affects the public safety role lifeguards perform?

Secondary responsibilities

Lifeguards mediating a conflict should:

Separate the parties involved

Effective management of a beach conflict would be:

Separating incompatible activities

A drowning victim who is recovered usually is showing signs/symptoms of:

Severe hypoxia

Drowning in the 1700's was largely due to:

Shipwrecks

Preventive actions _____ be documented in a lifeguard log.

Should

Unexpected striking of an underwater hazard is a significant prime cause of:

Spinal cord paralysis

Submerged objects in shallow water are dangerous to individuals who move quickly through the surf line like:

Surfers and body boarders

Rip currents affect people differently depending upon:

Swimming skill and knowledge of the currents

Any significant exposure to the sun can result in damage _______.

That is cumulative

The USLA maintains principles which all lifeguards should follow. The principles are known as:

The code of ethics

Swimming after a shark incident requires the lifeguard to open the water when:

The immediate threat is over

The main cause of a rip current is:

The surf

Two way radios allow lifeguards:

To stay in communication at all times

A main observation tower is used for overall observation and supervision of the area, that is known as:

Tower zero

A seiche is a sudden oscillation of water that can be caused by:

Tsunami

Depth perception during searches is eliminated when the water is:

Turbid

An opportunity for successful recovery and resuscitation relies on a ____ minute window.

Two

What does the USLA recommend as the primary method of rescuer communication?

Two way radio

Congress appropriated funds in 1878 to create the ___ after 98 persons were lost off North Carolina.

U.S. Lifesaving Service

Shark bite prevention and response guidelines were developed in 2002 by?

USLA

The national organization representing open water lifeguards in America which was renamed in 1979 is the:

USLA

The inhalation of water into the lungs is known as:

Water aspiration

The following actions affect the topography of the beach flat water except:

Water temperatures

The horizontal distance between two wave crests (or troughs) is known as a:

Wave length

The time it takes two consecutive wave to crests pass a given point is known as:

Wave period

Flotsam is most likely to be a problem:

after a storm or storm surf

Burning hot coals on the beach is dangerous because:

buried coals retain heat for many hours

Beach environments can be affected negatively due to:

development

Secondary drowning complications can occur up to:

does not exist

Sandy beaches are usually created and regenerated by:

erosion

The Coastal Conservation Initiative in 1972 regulates:

land and water uses in the coastal zones

The need for warning flags is based on:

objective measurable criteria

USLA warning flag guidelines are:

providing general levels of hazard

Why should lifeguards discourage beach patrons from digging holes in the sand?

sand is an unstable substance

An effective lifeguard promotes beach and water safety by:

separating incompatible activities