Paderborn/Cologne.
In many municipalities in NRW, the outdoor pool season will only open in a few weeks. Lifeguards are often absent.
Temperatures of well below 20 degrees in some places make little desire for Köpper from the pool edge and fries on the sunbathing lawn. At the beginning of May, many pools in NRW are still taking their time to open the 2023 outdoor pool season. Sometimes, however, it is not just the bathing weather that is to blame: many pools continue to have difficulties finding lifeguards.
According to the Deutsche Gesellschaft für das Badewesen (DGfdB), the staff is the more decisive bottleneck problem this season than the situation on the energy markets, which has eased. In many places, opening hours would be adjusted or indoor pools closed in order to make do with the available staff.
Start of the outdoor pool season in NRW: Many pool operators are still lacking staff
“Since Corona, it has become much more difficult to recruit lifeguards as temporary workers during the outdoor pool season,” says Stefan Schumann, head of the Pader baths in Paderborn. In view of the closed baths, the demand suddenly fell during the pandemic and has now increased again – unfortunately some have migrated. In addition to the employed specialists, temporary workers who, for example, earn some extra money while studying, are particularly in demand in swimming pools. However, many looked for a crisis-proof job during the pandemic. Schumann says: Although the personnel situation is very tense and there are occasional bottlenecks, Paderborn does not have to close earlier. On the contrary: part of the pool has even been open to the hardened since the beginning of April, and the other pools will follow at the beginning of May.
“We will delay the opening as much as possible,” says Jörg Husemann, Managing Director of the Sport World Dortmund, which, among other things, operates the four larger outdoor pools in the city. At the current costs, the water will not be heated, and there is no point in opening it. In addition, there are the personnel problems: Although the number of trainees has already been increased from three to nine, this year the indoor pools will probably be closed during the summer holidays, and the opening times in the outdoor pools may be reduced.
Outdoor pool season in NRW: bathing company expects “compressed outdoor pool season”
On May 1st, this also opens at the traditional start of the outdoor pool season Grugabad in Essen. The other two pools in the city will follow later. “The opening will take place as soon as personnel capacities allow,” says the city. We are working flat out to recruit more staff.
The CologneBädern According to their own statements, several “speed dating” rounds with swimming enthusiasts who were not yet able to show the necessary silver lifeguard badge helped in the search for personnel. The deal: The participants were made fit for the exam in a crash course, in return they were allowed to train free of charge. That put the baths in the fortunate position of being able to get the 60 or so seasonal workers together, says a spokeswoman for the Cologne baths. That’s why there are probably no shorter open-air pool opening times in Cologne. As in previous years, however, smaller indoor pools are closed in summer.
In Düsseldorf the all-weather pool in Flingern will be open from May 6th, the other pools will follow later in May. In Köln the outdoor pool season is planned from mid-May.
Most of the pools in NRW want to open during this period or even later. An exact date is often not fixed, the opening is usually made dependent on the weather. In mid-May, for example, Büren or the Nattenberg family pool in Lüdenscheid are targeted. The Langenfeld outdoor pool should open towards the end of May or the beginning of June, in Jülich June 1st is planned. The pool company DGfdB is expecting a “compressed outdoor pool season”: Longer-term weather forecasts predicted particularly strong visitor behavior in June and July 2023.
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