AI exposure: Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers
Monitor recreational areas, such as pools, beaches, or ski slopes, to provide assistance and protection to participants.
Reading this score
computedAt 14.4% of weighted task load, Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers sits at the 22th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 70.7% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 15 tasks it averages 2.37 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Complete and maintain records of weather and beach conditions, emergency medical treatments..., at 41.7%. The least is Participate in recreational demonstrations to entertain resort guests, at 0.0%. A gap of 41.7% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within protective service occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 18.9% across the group's 26 roles, with 21 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 15 tasks, 2 are currently banded exposed, 3 assisted and 10 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 1.10 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.37 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 2.10 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.40 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.70 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.50 | 0-3 |
Task by task
15 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complete and maintain records of weather and beach conditions, emergency medical treatments performed, and other relevant incident information. | 41.7% | 20.8% | 37.5% | 4.25 | exposed |
| Contact emergency medical personnel in case of serious injury. | 35.0% | 40.0% | 25.0% | 4.70 | assisted |
| Provide assistance with staff selection, training, and supervision. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 3.69 | exposed |
| Warn recreational participants of inclement weather, unsafe areas, or illegal conduct. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.27 | assisted |
| Instruct participants in skiing, swimming, or other recreational activities and provide safety precaution information. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.08 | assisted |
| Maintain quality of pool water by testing chemical levels. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.26 | untouched |
| Inspect recreational facilities for cleanliness. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 3.61 | untouched |
| Inspect recreational equipment, such as rope tows, T-bars, J-bars, or chair lifts, for safety hazards and damage or wear. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.05 | untouched |
| Observe activities in assigned areas, using binoculars, to detect hazards, disturbances, or safety infractions. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 4.23 | untouched |
| Operate underwater recovery units. | 3.3% | 21.7% | 75.0% | 4.11 | untouched |
| Patrol or monitor recreational areas, such as trails, slopes, or swimming areas, on foot, in vehicles, or from towers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.77 | untouched |
| Rescue distressed persons, using rescue techniques and equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.76 | untouched |
| Examine injured persons and administer first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, if necessary, using training and medical supplies and equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.66 | untouched |
| Provide assistance in the safe use of equipment, such as ski lifts. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.64 | untouched |
| Participate in recreational demonstrations to entertain resort guests. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 2.44 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean. 1 task(s) lacked a usable O*NET weight and are shown but excluded from the weighting.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.