Beach Safety Tips: How to Stay Safe and Make the Most of Your Time in the Sun
The Gist
Whether you love swimming, surfing, snorkeling, or even just sunbathing, a trip to the beach is a great way to pass a lazy summer day. No matter how you spend your time on the sand, it’s important to keep beach safety in mind.
Lifeguards are highly trained professionals who are there to help in case of emergency. Listen to them and follow their instructions to stay safe at the beach.
Common hazards like sea life and rip tides can be incredibly dangerous for even the most experienced swimmers.
More than just beach safety tips, you should be mindful of your health. Wear sunscreen with at least SPF 15, drink a lot of water, and don’t forget to pack a snack.
Even if you know how to stay safe at the beach, accidents can happen. In case of emergency, find a lifeguard, police officer, EMT, or park staff — it may be unsafe to try to perform a rescue yourself.
In This Article
In Short
It’s estimated that the U.S. has over 95,000 miles of shoreline — and a good portion of that is beautiful, sandy ocean beaches. These beach communities have become go-to destinations for people looking to get away. In fact, the United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) estimates that Americans make over 400 million combined trips to the beach every year. That’s more than one visit per American per year!
Whether you’re going to the ocean, a lake, a pond, or even just the old swimming hole, beach safety is important. Small beach safety tips like “don’t bring glass bottles” and “listen to the lifeguard” can go a long way toward keeping you and your family from serious injury. Keep reading for some essential tips on how to stay safe at the beach.
Always Listen to The Lifeguards 🏝️
If you’re a good swimmer, it’s easy to get over-confident — especially if you’re at a beach you’ve visited dozens of times. Although Baywatch might have made it seem a little more glamorous than it really is, lifeguards serve a necessary function when it comes to beach safety. The USLA calculated that the risk of drowning at a professionally-guarded beach is now down to one in 18 million — and that’s almost entirely thanks to the rigorous training and hard work done by lifeguards across the country.
Even if you’re a lifeguard at another facility, you should defer to the guards on staff at the beach, as they will be more familiar with their specific emergency protocols. Everybody wants to be a hero, but you don’t want to make it so the lifeguard has to save an extra person, right?
Duties a lifeguard might have to perform include:
First aid and CPR
Water rescues
Monitoring for weather, hazards, riptides, and in some cases, sharks
Reuniting lost kids with their families
Treating heat exhaustion and heat stroke
Assisting EMTs, police, and other emergency crews
Finally, when you are swimming at a guarded beach, follow all posted signs and only swim where the lifeguards can see you.
Follow All Posted Rules 🪧
If the beach you’re swimming at is unguarded, you still should still familiarize yourself with all rules and regulations posted. There are a number of reasons why a certain section of a beach could be closed off to you, such as:
To protect wildlife — for instance, places where turtles or migratory birds lay their eggs.
To keep you safe — by preventing you from accessing a section of the beach that is dangerous or hard for emergency crews to reach.
To prevent erosion — the beach can be a delicate ecosystem, and to make sure that it’s there for generations to come, certain areas like dunes may be off-limits.
To prevent serious injury — signs prohibiting diving or jumping are likely there because someone else made the mistake first.
We totally understand: Sometimes you’re trying to escape the hustle and bustle, and the beach can get crowded. That said, it can be dangerous to make your own secret swimming spots.
Wear Sunscreen 🧴
According to the National Institute of Health, tanning became a common practice nearly 100 years ago around 1928. Odds are, if you’re reading this post, you’ve been told to wear sunscreen for most of your life, as concerns around skin cancer became major talking points in the ‘80s and ‘90s. While it may not be one of the first beach safety tips you think of, wearing sunscreen is essential to maintaining your health — especially if you spend a lot of time at the beach.
The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends using sunscreen with at least 15 SPF and reapplying liberally throughout your beach day. Even if it’s not hot, you can still get a sunburn and cause other permanent damage to your skin and put you at risk of developing skin cancers like squamous cell carcinoma or melanoma.
Kids under 18 should use sunscreen with a minimum of 30 SPF, with even higher SPF ratings for babies. Make sure your kids are returning to the beach blanket regularly to reapply their sunscreen — even if it doesn’t look like they’re getting a sunburn, the sun can still be damaging their skin.
Stay Hydrated 💦
We’ve all been there — having a great time at the beach when you realize you haven’t had water in hours! You may be at risk of heat stroke or heat exhaustion, two dangerous conditions that should be treated immediately.
According to the National Weather Service, some symptoms of heat exhaustion are:
Heavy sweating
Weakness or tiredness
Cool, pale, clammy skin
Fast, weak pulse, muscle cramps, dizziness, nausea, or vomiting
Headache or fainting
If someone in your group is experiencing heat exhaustion symptoms, you should:
Move them to a cooler environment, like air conditioning
Loosen their clothing
Apply cool, wet compresses or have them sit in a cool bath
Offer sips of water.
If they vomit more than once or do not feel better after one hour, call 9-1-1
The symptoms of heat stroke are:
Throbbing headache
Confusion, nausea, and dizziness
Body temperature above 103 degrees Fahrenheit
Hot, red, dry, or damp skin
Rapid and strong pulse
Fainting or loss of consciousness
Heat stroke is a serious condition, and you should find a lifeguard or 9-1-1 immediately if you suspect you or someone else has been afflicted. Drinking water or electrolyte drinks (like sports drinks) throughout the day can help lessen the risk of both heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
If you lack comprehensive health insurance and suffer heat stroke, you may end up owing thousands of dollars out-of-pocket from your emergency room visit. Here at Stride, we’ve got you covered. All you have to do is enter your ZIP code and enter a few basic health questions, and then you can compare and contrast all the plans available to you. Enroll in 10 minutes or less right from our site!
Keep Your Stuff Safe 🔒
So far, we’ve talked about beach safety tips for you and your loved ones, but what about your stuff? It seems like nowadays, we’ve just got so much stuff to bring everywhere — phones, tablets, e-readers, and that’s just scratching the surface.
To help keep your stuff safe at the beach:
Leave valuable items at home
Rent a beach locker (if available)
Invest in a waterproof locking pouch for your phone
Set up your blanket close to a lifeguard stand
Keep valuables out of site (inside of your bag)
Be Cautious of Rip Tides 🌊
Rip tides, also known as rip currents, are dangerous water currents that can occur at any beach with breaking waves. These strong currents are, like waves, completely unpredictable and can change at a moment’s notice. Even extremely experienced swimmers and other athletes have found themselves caught in rip tides — sometimes with tragic results.
The best way to avoid rip tides is to stay close to the shore and within view of lifeguards. Lifeguards are specially trained to identify the types of waves that could cause rip currents and keep you and your loved ones safe. If you hear the lifeguard’s whistle blow, immediately look for the tower and begin moving in.
If someone in your group gets caught in a rip tide at a guarded beach, find a lifeguard immediately. Do not risk entering the rip current yourself — the last thing you want to do is create one more rescue for the lifeguards to perform.
Accidents Can Happen ⚠️
As with any natural location, the beach can be unpredictable. From heat exhaustion and heat stroke to drowning risk, there are a lot of ways a perfect beach day can turn dangerous. Make sure you have your health insurance cards (take a picture and save them on your phone if you don’t want to carry them) and that you know which hospitals near the beach are in-network.
If you lack comprehensive health insurance, well, that’s no day at the beach. A trip to the ER could cost you thousands of dollars out-of-pocket if you don’t have an active health care plan. Don’t worry! Getting health insurance is as easy as visiting Stride and entering your ZIP code and some basic medical information — you can even enroll right through our site in 10 minutes or less.
We’ll see you at the beach! 🏖️