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
