New lifeguard requirements introduced recently are about to block the summer season, beach concessionaires complain.
The most serious change in the Ordinance on water rescue activity is the doubling of the number of medical specialists that must be provided in each water area.
The Association of Sea Beach Concessionaires is outraged that this is happening almost at the threshold of the season, with no notice, no time to react.
Concessionaires and tenants of the sea beaches are very worried because they have only a month to meet the new requirements for medical professionals. Owners of hotels and spa complexes with adjoining pools, mineral springs and water parks face the same problems.
Until now, the requirement was that there should be one medical person on each beach – a doctor, nurse or paramedic. According to the new requirements, a medical team must be provided for every five posts, plus a resuscitation team with a renomobile.
“Where can we provide them for a few weeks, given that there is a lack of such specialists throughout Bulgaria?” wonder the beach concessionaires.
“If restaurateurs and hoteliers can fill the labor shortage with workers from other countries, we cannot import medical specialists because of the requirement that they possess qualifications under Bulgarian legislation,” explained Ivo Stefanov, manager of the branch association, to BTA.
The association insists that the effect of this ordinance be postponed.
“By law, the beach season opens on June 1, and within a month we will not be able to provide this set of doctors, nurses, resuscitators. These are substantial additional costs for wages and insurance. It is likely that the owners will not be able to meet the requirements and will have to give up and close. It is not only about beaches, but also about a large number of pools, spa centers, spa complexes, water parks. It just means to block the summer season. So far, no one from the responsible institutions has come forward to say what caused the double increase in medical specialists,” commented Stefanov.
The industry association warns that concessionaires who manage to procure these staff will have to raise the prices of beach services.
This may not be done by increasing the price of umbrellas and sunbeds, but most likely by raising the rent of the establishments. And that means more expensive drinks and food at the beach this summer.
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