3 Ways Pool Managers Can Save Time and Reduce Risk During COVID-19

The pandemic of 2020 has brought with it many new changes to our daily lives and how people interact with each other. Public spaces that hold large groups of people, such as sporting events, had to completely rethink how they manage the flow of people that is not only safe but also provides a great experience.

Now that we are six months into new normal, many businesses and organizations are taking a second look at their operations for areas that can be further optimized for both safety and efficiency. 

Public pools and water parks are places where these exact conversations are happening right now. What we're hearing from the community is that in order to accommodate the essential safety precautions, the overall efficiency of the facility operations may have been reduced. 

These are opportunities to modernize aspects of the operation at aquatics facilities. Listed below are some key areas that can be quickly and easily improved with simple digital solutions.

1. Chemical Records

Given that chemical record keeping is almost always done with paper and clipboards, it is yet another surface that will come into contact with multiple people over the days and weeks of the recorded period. 

With chemical record keeping done digitally, anyone can remotely see all of the logs across multiple locations from the palm of their hand. There's no need to leave the house or primary workplace and risk exposure to more employees and the public.

There are a variety of tools that can be used to accomplish digitizing chemical records. A simple Google form or spreadsheet would at least give you the basics of what you need to maintain these records. 

An even more streamlined and simple tool is DigiQuatics, an all-in-one App for aquatics, centralizing every aspect of managing your pool and staff into an app that is accessible from any device, anywhere, at any time.

Entering your chemical records in DigiQuatics will send you real-time alerts via text message and email. If anything is out of whack, DigiQuatics will automatically provide chemical dosage recommendations to help meet requirements and balance your water chemistry.

Within minutes, a pool manager can create a simple chemical records form and provide the rest of the staff with processes for maintaining those records digitally.

2. Daily Checklists

Similar to chemical record logs, all of the various daily checklists at pools and water parks are typically paper, pencil, and clipboards. While this system is adequate most of the time in managing simple checklists, it is also one that can be easily improved upon when maintained digitally.

A digital approach would provide managers with a timestamp for when a checklist was updated or completed. While not always necessary, since human error will occur from time to time, the more that you can monitor and track, the better you can manage operations. 

There are plenty of digital tools that can accomplish creating checklists, though they will vary with the additional features for monitoring and managing.

3. Custom Forms

From special cleanings to employee health screenings, public pools and water parks have had no shortage of new processes and procedures specific to COVID. Given the increase in documentation which will then need to be monitored and reviewed, these are perfect opportunities to utilize custom digital forms.

These forms are simple enough to create in Google Sheets or similar. If you were to use DigiQuatics, there are a number of additional advantages, including:

• Completely customizable: Use any number of fields and choose from a variety of field types (text, date, time, radio buttons, checkboxes, etc.) to match any procedure you have in place.

• Minimizes shared surfaces: This also makes them easier to clean, compared to trying to disinfect a tablet, three-ring binder, or paper notebook.

• Remotely accessible: Managers can log in daily to see that all employee health screens have been completed, for example.

• More precise record-keeping: All log entries are digitally signed and time stamped to better track and monitor daily tasks.

• Easily transferable files: Export records to PDF

• Automatic Notifications: copies of completed forms are sent to your email with a PDF copy of the form data attached.

DigiQuatics is again another simple tool that aquatics facilities can use to modernize their operation. Visit www.digiquatics.com to learn more or to start a free trial to see it in action.