Lifesaving

Lifesaving is the act involving rescue, resuscitation and first aid. It often refers to water safety and aquatic rescue however it could include ice rescue, flood and river rescue, swimming pool rescue and other Emergency medical services. Lifesaving also referres to sport where lifesavors compete skills, speed and team work. Lifesaving activities specialized in oceanic environment is called Surf Lifesaving or coastal lifesaving.

Those who participate in lifesaving activities as a volunteer are called Lifesavers, and those who are employed to perform lifesaving activities are called Lifeguards.

History
In the 19th century, countries like France with its long history of disaster preparedness, Netherlands with two thirds of its land below sea-level and Britain where swimming pools gained so much popularity, were aware of the danger of water and establishing the methods of prevention and rescue.

The first International Lifesaving conference was held in Marseille, France in 1878. It took more than 10 years to found an International Organization, FIS (Fédération Internationale de Sauvetage Aquatique founded in 1910). FIS’s members were mostly from Europe such as Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia and Turkey.

While in 1891 Royal Life Saving Society was created to affiliate Britain and Ireland lifesaving and lifeguarding clubs, then expanded its operations to Canada and Australia in 1894.

In 1971 Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States founded another international organization called World Life Saving (WLS).

FIS and WLS merged into a new organization, International Life Saving Federation(ILS) in 1993 with its headquarters in Leuven, Belgium.

Lifesaving has progressed significantly becoming a modern and widley known sport and occupation.

Activities
Surf lifesaving developed in Australia is often simply called "lifesaving", however general lifesaving does not limit its activities to beaches. Landlocked countries like Switzerland, Austria, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Czech, Slovakia, are also the full member of the International lifesaving federation.

Lifesavors are volunteers and usually stationed at a club house. They provide training for lifesavor/lifeguard licenses as well as educating small children and students.