CIMSPA fellow honoured for services to swimming pool safety

The award is in recognition of a lifetime’s work for water safety issues.

Andrew Ebben, FCIMSPA

CIMSPA fellow Andy Ebben has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the New Year honours list. The award is in recognition of a lifetime’s work for “for services to lifeguard development and swimming pool safety.”

Speaking about the award, Andy Ebben said: “This is a huge honour to receive and I’m absolutely humbled by it. I think it is also an honour that comes to me on behalf of the large number of people who have supported the work I initiated to improve safety in swimming pools and support lifeguards.

“I could not have completed this lifeguard development work without the support of both the Royal Life Saving Society and the professional institutes I have been part of throughout my career – IBRM, ISRM and CIMSPA. The success of the Pool Lifeguard handbook is a joint effort that would not have been achieved without collaboration with these bodies.”

Andy’s first role in swimming was as a lifeguard and swim teacher in mid-70s Edinburgh, after a spell in the British Army.

After completing a sports science degree and teaching qualification at Loughborough University he taught physical education as part of the United Nations peacekeeping presence in Cyprus where he wrote and implemented his first lifeguard training manual.

On his return to the UK in 1982, Andy worked for both RLSS UK and Birmingham City Council in technical development and swimming management roles. Andy identified a need to better resource and support lifeguards as regulation and policy increased, which led to the first edition of “The Pool Lifeguard” in 1989. The current version of this publication is still at the centre of lifeguard education.

After a period as Managing Director of RLSS UK, Andy now works as a consultant across aquatic safety issues.