“At the moment, we do not have any register that suggests a lack of lifeguards”, said the president of FEPONS, Alexandre Tadeia to Lusa News Agency, who had been warning since April about the possibility of not having enough lifeguards to ensure beach surveillance during the summertime.

According to the official, there could be a shortage between 1,500 to 2,000 lifeguards but it did not happen due to the closure of swimming pools in the interior of the country because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The closure of swimming pools in the interior of the country obligated the lifeguards that were unemployed to find a job at the beaches”, he said.

In fact, he explained, that the ones who went to the beach were “people that used to work in swimming pools with other jobs, like swimming coaches, who also had a lifeguard course”.

Besides this, Alexandre Tadeia considered that the financial crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic may have led people to find a job, changing the trend that “only 50 percent of the lifeguards go back to work at the next bathing season”, according to a federation study.

The values of personal income for the employees “are very similar to the ones of the last years”, although the association and the concessionaires have “higher costs” with individual protection equipment, he related.

“Each treatment, even a small injury, requires the Covid-19 evaluation a great part of the individual protection equipment cannot be reused, which has led to an increase of the costs”, he explained.

Between April and May, the federation appealed for the application of social and task incentives for lifeguards, such as tax exemptions (IVA or IRS), moderator and kickback fees and university tuitions, a special hiring regime and a change in the security devices, with the reduction of the number of lifeguards, but no measures were applied by the Government.

“We reunited with the commission of the National Defence and we did several interventions, but until now no incentives have been given”, he lamented.