The course was organised in response to the recent dispute between the Phuket Lifeguard Service and the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization (PPAO) which led to trained lifeguards ending their patrols of Phuket’s beaches and being replaced by an ad-hoc assemblage of untrained government personnel. (See stories here, here, here and here)
Despite the fact that the training course was clearly intended to train the personnel replacing Phuket’s experienced lifeguards, it appears that the 37 attendees are members of the public and that none of the government personnel now tasked with rescue and water safety on the island's beaches are taking part.
Prapan Kanprasang, Chief of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket office (DDPM-Phuket), although not directly responsible for the provision of lifeguards on the island’s beaches, explained to The Phuket News that the course would equip participants with the basic skills needed to rescue people caught in dangerous surf conditions.
“After this course is finished, the participants will have the basic skills needed to begin patrolling the beaches immediately. We expect they will be on the beaches on Saturday (Oct 21),” he said.
The first day of course was held yesterday (Oct 18) at the Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor) Sports Centre and training today and tomorrow is taking place at Nai Yang Beach.
After observing the training sessions yesterday, Phuket Vice Governor Snith Sriwihok said, “I have seen that they are training well in both physical and mental aspects. Phuket is a tourism destination, so the lifeguards have to be ready. We have to show the tourists that they can be confident in their safety,” he said.
DDPM-Phuket Chief Prapan said that the relevant local OrBorTor administrations would be conducting their own safety traing courses.
“None of them [current training participants] were from Cherng Talay OrBorTor because Cherng Talay OrBorTor will train by themselves,” he said.
Prapan said he did not know how many lifeguard are currently at each beach – or will be at each beach.
“I just don’t know,” he said.
Following the two recent deaths of tourists at Karon Beach, the Karon Municipality have decided to provide their own lifeguards, Mr Prapan confirmed, but was unable to give any concrete figures for how many lifeguards would be patrolling and where. (See stories here and here)
“Karon Municipality will find their own budget to hire real lifeguards because tourists are getting into trouble in the water all the time,” said Mr Prapan.
He added that the Karon Municipality won’t wait for any approval or assitance from the PPAO and that they had formally notified Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong of their intentions yesterday (Oct 18).
“In my opinion, the PPAO must step back and give the budget to local municipalities so they can organise lifeguards without further delays,” added Mr Prapan.
But due to government budget scheduling, that cannot happen for another year as the Thai fiscal year has recently commenced and the year’s budget allocated.
“In the next rotation of the budget (in Sept, 2019), the PPAO should give the money for the lifeguard budget to the local municipalities so they can manage it directly,” he said.
“Then the PPAO should just support them for extra equipment such as jet-skis and other essential lifesaving equipment when it is needed.
“I support OrBorTor and local municipalities in taking this on by themselves – with the PPAO only providing some additional support for them.
“Protecting tourists’ lives is the top priority – we need lifeguards because we are a tourist destination,” Mr Prapan added.