Pool, Gerloff get high marks

MEEKER — Thursday, March 20 was not just another day at Meeker Recreation Center Pool. On this day there was an unannounced audit of the facility and staff. The purpose of an audit is to assess the facility and personnel on an on-going basis, and to identify potential risks and eliminate those risks with the bottom line of safety.
The MRC pool is licensed through Jeff Ellis and Associates International Aquatic Safety and Risk Management Program (E&A). It is known in the aquatics field that E&A is the unrivaled leader in aquatic safety. One of the reasons why it is the leader is due to the use of the mandatory Aquatic Facility Operational Auditing program.
E&A performs at least four unannounced audits each year where the lifeguards are videotaped and watched by the auditor to evaluate their performance. The lifeguards and facility receive one of three outcomes: fails standards, meets standards or exceeds standards.
After a two-day evaluation by the auditor, the lifeguards and the aquatics facility exceeded standards.
Also during the audit, Ben Gerloff received a golden guard award. What is a golden guard? According to ERBM, it’s someone who epitomizes the perfect guard — a guard who is so good that an auditor watches and says “Wow, that guard is the greatest.”
According to ERBM, a golden guard award is only received by a selected few out of hundreds of thousands of lifeguards audited.