1. Safety Plan
Toronto Island Lake Swim
August 18th, 2013

2. EVENT SYNOPSIS
The Toronto Island Lake Swim is an open water swim
race event located in Lake Ontario on Wards Island in
Toronto Ontario. The event will take place on Sunday,
August 18th on Wards Island. The purpose of the
event is to raise awareness for clean fresh water lakes.
The Toronto Island Lake Swim is partnered with the
Lake Ontario Water Keeper charity. A portion of of the
event proceeds will go to the Waterkeeper charity.
Their tagline is "working for a swimmable, drinkable,
fishable world".
The Toronto Island Lake Swim consists of two events: a
1.5k swim and a 3.8km swim.

3. Roles
• 1 Chief Safety Officer - accountable for executing safety plan
• 1 Chief Registrar - accountable for registration and overall starting swimmer count
• 6 Lifeguards - observe swimmers in water and respond to swimmers in distress
• 1 Police boat - keeps course free of unauthorized boat traffic, overall course
observation Course boats - placed along course route, swimmer observation,
respond to swimmers in distress
• On Course Swimmer counters - 6 counters will be placed along course route,
count swimmers as they pass
• Start/Finish Swimmer Counter – 2 accountable for verifying the number of
swimmers that start and finish the swim
• On shore safety officers – 2 observe swim in progress
• 1 EMS – respond to any swimmers in distress
Core Safety Team: 12 w/ 8 Counters for 20 on the team.

4. Course considerations
• There is a short course 1.5km and a long course 3.8 km
• The course starts at Ward’s Island Beach and continues west along
the shore line
• Water depth on the course is 3-20 feet (from north to south)
• Course route will be marked with buoys every 100 metres with large
buoys at the turn-around point (750 m, and 1.9k).

5. Communications
• All safety team members (12) are required to carry a hand held radio
and/or cell phone
• Communication between safety team will be coordinated by the
chief Safety officer Jon Haywood
• Communication between safety teams and police and EMS will be
coordinated by the Chief Safety Officer Jon Haywood
• We will also be producing a training video that explains how our
safety plan will work. Swimmers who register will be sent a video to
watch explaining how the entire safety aspect will work and operate
so that the day of the event they are all well educated. We will also
brief them again on race day.

6. Swimmer Safety Considerations
• All swimmers will be required to register & sign the waiver
• Short course swimmers will be required to wear individually numbered, bright pink
swim caps
• Long course swimmers will be required to wear individually numbered, bright yellow
swim caps
• Swimmers will be encouraged to swim parallel to the shoreline and if they are feeling
uncomfortable for any reason, they should take off their cap and waive it in the air to
get the attention of a lifeguard.
• All short course swimmers must complete the course in 1 hours, or they will be forced
to abandon the swim and removed from the water
• All long course swimmers must complete the course in 3 hours, or they will be forced
to abandon the swim and removed from the water
• Swimmers that need to stop for any reason will be instructed to stay where they are
(swim out of the way of swimmers), take their cap off, and wave it in the air. This will
catch the attention of the lifeguards who will arrive in their boat to assist.
• Swimmers will be notified of the current the day of the event.
• The event will be cancelled if the water is under 16/61 degrees, or if there is
significant waves.
• Event organizers will be screening registrants based on previous swimming
experience on a best effort basis.

7. Swimmer Tracking
• The Chief Registrar will advise the Chief Safety Official as to the
total registered swimmers for each course at the start of the swim
• Swimmer counters will be provided with a detailed count sheet
accounting for all registered swimmers. They will be asked to count
the number of swimmer that pass by each check-point on a best
efforts basis.
• The Start/Finish counter will count all swimmers starting and
finishing the swim and will coordinate with other safety officials to
ensure all swimmers are accounted for.

8. RACE COURSE
There will be two races that will start and finish on Wards Island beach. There will be a 1.5 KM race and a 3.8 KM
race.
Counters
Buoys
X Large Turn-around marker
EMS
Lifeguard (In a boat and moving)
Police (In a boat moving)

9. Thanks!
Contact info
Jon Haywood - Jon.Haywood@capitalone.com - 416-371-2311
Bill Poole - billpoole1970@gmail.com - 416.577.4962
Steve Hulford – steve@filemobile.com - 416-435-4361