The shortage of lifeguards became a big issue after a 35-year-old mother drowned on Saturday while swimming with her two daughters. It was the fifth drowning in the last two months, prompting calls for more lifeguards, because there are many unmanned towers, and longer hours of duty, because most finish work at 6pm. The working hours acquired greater significance because Saturday’s drowning happened just 20 minutes after lifeguards got off work.

It was inevitable that there would be calls for lifeguards to stay in place until sunset. President of lifeguards association Polys Pallikaros said that closing lifeguard towers at 6pm during July, August and September was ‘criminal.’ He told CyBC radio that “human life cannot be weighed against cost,” a view repeated by several media commentators. This was unfair criticism because the authorities were not trying to save money but had a problem finding qualified lifeguards to man all posts.

An interior ministry official said there were not enough candidates to staff the lifeguard towers, partly because of a “problematic” certification system which the government is currently in the process of rationalising – the new legislation would allow approved organisations to issue lifeguard certification. Would this solve the problem? Most probably no, because there is another reason many are reluctant to work as lifeguards. The contract is for just four months and although the pay is reasonable it is difficult to attract many people’s interest.

According to the interior ministry, in Larnaca only 10 of the 19 lifeguard towers are staffed while 31 lifeguards are employed. This includes 20 temporary staff, while Larnaca has approval for 44 temporary staff. In Paphos, 25 of the 33 towers are in operation. The Famagusta district has no shortage problems, having 86 lifeguards for 30 towers. Eight smaller beaches have no lifeguard presence, but it would be unreasonable to expect lifeguards on every beach on the island.

The criticism is unfair, as it does not take into account the objective difficulties of having lifeguard cover for beaches 24/7. There are not enough people interested in a four-month job. The authorities cannot double the wage offered or make the job permanent to attract more people. In fact, the central state should not even be dealing with the lifeguard issue. This should be the responsibility of each municipality, which makes large amounts of money from the beaches it administers. It should decide which beaches need lifeguards, hire people and pay them.

This should not be the responsibility of central government. Even the certification of lifeguards should be left to each municipality. In the end, each municipality should decide which of its beaches requires lifeguards and for how long each day. Their only responsibility would be to inform the public, with big signs, that there are no lifeguards on a beach. It would then be up to each individual to decide whether to use a beach with no lifeguard, because the idea that all beaches must have lifeguards is absurd.