This lifeguard trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and covers the job, the science and the stories. On the job side: how lifeguards are trained and certified, the drowning chain, the instinctive drowning response, the four water entries, the 10/20 Protection Standard, rescue tubes and cans, CPR ratios and defibrillators, and how rip currents work. On the history side: the first US beach patrol in Atlantic City, the birth of surf lifesaving at Bondi in 1907, the RNLI and the Royal Life Saving Society, the world's largest lifeguard organisation, and lifesaving as a sport at the World Games. Then the pop culture: Baywatch (and the lifeguard who created it), Bondi Rescue, and famous people who started out on a lifeguard stand, from Ronald Reagan to Duke Kahanamoku. Roughly a third of the questions are easy for anyone who has spent a summer at the pool; the rest are for certified guards and lifesaving-sport nerds. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia's articles on lifeguarding, water safety and related topics, and each question links to the page that confirms it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Alongside swimming and water rescue, lifeguards are trained and certified in which two emergency skills?
CPR/AED and first aid
In some communities the lifeguard service is the primary emergency medical provider.
Q 02According to the 'drowning chain' model, how is a lifeguard unit's effectiveness best measured?
By the absence or reduction of drownings
Prevention, not reaction, is the primary focus: education, warnings, denying access, supervision and survival training.
Q 03A typical lifeguard certification lasts how long before it must be renewed?
1-2 years
Some certifications run up to 5 years; the initial class is usually 25-30 hours ending in a final exam.
Q 04Which lifeguard water entry is the slowest, used when a spinal injury is suspected?
Slide-in
The stride jump needs at least five feet of water and no more than three feet of height; run-and-swim is for shallow entries.
Q 05How long may an 'active drowning person', showing the instinctive drowning response, have before sinking?
Less than 60 seconds
That is why lifeguards treat this behaviour as an emergency rescue rather than a shout for help.
Q 06The 10/20 Protection Standard requires a lifeguard to reach any swimmer within how many seconds?
20
The standard was developed by the safety consultants Jeff Ellis and Associates and is taught in the UK's National Pool Lifeguard Qualification.
Q 07Which US safety consultancy developed the 10/20 Protection Standard?
Jeff Ellis and Associates
Ellis is also one of the major bodies that certify American lifeguards, alongside the Red Cross and USLA.
Q 08Which environment does the lifeguard profession consider the most challenging to guard?
Ocean beach
Weather, currents, tides and waves all come into play, so beach guards must be in peak physical condition.
Q 09The first beach patrol in the United States, still the oldest active one, was founded in 1891 where?
Atlantic City, New Jersey
In 2009 US beaches saw 117 drownings, only 21 of them where lifeguards were on duty.
Q 10The California State Lifeguards are unusual in also performing what kind of duties?
Law enforcement
They are a division of the California State Parks Peace Officer department.
Q 11In Australia, what are the volunteer beach patrollers called, as distinct from paid lifeguards?
Surf lifesavers
They patrol on weekends and holidays from mid-September to late April and train children known as 'nippers'.
Q 12Surf lifesaving originated in response to drownings at Sydney beaches in which year?
1907
The Bondi Surf Bathers' Life Saving Club was formally established on 21 February that year at the Royal Hotel in Bondi.
Q 13Bondi and Bronte dispute the title of first surf club with which other club?
Manly
The Surf Bathing Association of New South Wales followed on 18 October 1907.
Q 21For adults, what chest-compression-to-breath ratio is taught in CPR?
30 to 2
Compressions should run at 100-120 per minute, roughly the tempo of 'Stayin' Alive'.
Q 22At what rate per minute should CPR chest compressions be delivered?
100 to 120
Depth matters too: at least two inches on an adult.
Q 23In which city was the portable defibrillator invented in the mid-1960s?
Belfast
Frank Pantridge, a pioneer of emergency medicine, built it; the first automatic public-use model came in the late 1970s.
Q 24Globally, drowning is the third leading cause of death for children in which age group?
Q 14Which country's DLRG is the world's largest aquatic lifeguard organisation, with over a million members?
Germany
Its silver lifesaving badge requires, among other tests, a 300 m swim in clothing in 12 minutes and retrieving a 5 kg brick from 3-5 m.
Q 15Canada's National Lifeguard programme, run by the Lifesaving Society, launched in which year?
1964
It offers four streams: pool, waterpark, waterfront and surf; the Canadian Red Cross retired its own lifeguard programme at the end of 2022.
Q 16In Brazil, most lifeguards are members of which service?
The state fire departments
Like the military police, fire-department members, including lifeguards, are considered military and a reserve of the army.
Q 17The UK's National Pool Lifeguard Qualification course lasts a minimum of how many hours?
36
It is valid for two years and is administered by the Institute of Qualified Lifeguards on behalf of the RLSS.
Q 18Which Indian state has the longest lifeguard-patrolled coastline, 105 km, guarded by Drishti Marine?
Goa
Its lifeguards are also trained to rescue stranded turtles and dolphins caught in ghost nets.
Q 19What is the inflatable flotation device with snap hooks that Pete Peterson developed in 1935 called?
The rescue tube
The hard plastic 'can' or torpedo buoy is the other classic lifeguard float, made famous by Baywatch.
Q 20In which direction should a swimmer caught in a rip current head to escape?
Parallel to the shore
Once free of the narrow offshore flow, swimmers should return to the beach at an angle.
5 to 14
For children aged 1-4 it ranks fourth; a UNICEF report found 46 children a day drowning in Bangladesh alone.
Q 25Which network cancelled Baywatch after one season, before syndication made it the world's most-watched show?
NBC
At its peak it drew a weekly audience of over 1.1 billion viewers despite terrible reviews.
Q 26Baywatch co-creator Gregory Bonann was himself a lifeguard. What did he originally call the show?
Aquatic Corps for Emergency Service
He renamed it after the rescue boats that patrolled Santa Monica Bay; a lifeguard friend designed the logo.
Q 27David Hasselhoff's Baywatch character, the head lifeguard, is named what?
Mitch Buchannon
The show ran in its original format from 1989 to 1999, then became Baywatch: Hawaii until 2001.
Q 28From 1999 to 2001, after a change of setting and cast, the show was retitled with which state's name?
Hawaii
Baywatch Nights was the earlier detective spin-off, and a feature film followed in 2017.
Q 29Which future US president's first job was as a lifeguard on the Rock River at Lowell Park, Illinois?
Ronald Reagan
He worked the river through his teenage summers before heading to Hollywood.
Q 30Which Hawaiian Olympic swimmer rescued eight men from a capsized fishing boat at Newport Beach in 1925?
Duke Kahanamoku
He used his surfboard for the rescue, helping popularise the board as lifesaving equipment.