Rescue devices in the water environments: a systematic review

Abstract

Using of rescue devices is necessary to prevent drowning in the water. The purpose of this review was to collect new information regarding different aquatic rescue devices and their functions. We conducted a systematic search using the databases of Science Direct, Google Scholar, PubMed, Elsevier, Springer and Google patent. The keywords that were used in this search were: swimming, beaches, swimming pool, rip current, drowning, rescue, rescue device and lifeguard. This search included all the published papers until 2018. Twenty-three papers were collected and reviewed during this study. In general, the aquatic rescue devices were divided into three groups: 1. Beach devices, 2. Pool devices, 3. Beach and pool devices. Some devices are personal life-saving devices for saving swimmer in water, but others cannot be useful without the presence of lifeguard, therefore we can categorize these devices into two groups: 1. Devices that perform the rescue process without lifeguard assistance, 2. Devices that they cannot rescue swimmer without assistance of lifeguard. There are different kinds of rescue devices, so it is necessary to identify them correctly to choose the best option for the aquatic safety.