Lifesaving Merit Badge

Start the badge the right way Milestone

Meet your unit leader, get a counselor and a signed blue card before working with them. That process is the same for every badge and is set out on its own page.

Work to the requirements in force when you start Document

These requirements are republished yearly. A Scout who has already begun may finish under the ones they started with.

Usually comes after Start the badge the right way.

Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.

1. Review Safe Swim Defense with your counselor Often forgotten Milestone

The first half of the gate. The badge states that this comes before requirements 3 through 15.

Usually comes after Work to the requirements in force when you start.

16. Resuscitation Often forgotten Requirement

Two parts, and neither is behind the gate. This can be done while the Swimming badge and the 400-yard swim are still outstanding.

2. The gate: the Swimming badge and 400 yards Often forgotten Requirement

Both parts, and both before requirements 3 through 15. This is the largest single piece of work on the page and it is stated in two lines.

This is a gate, not a step. The badge states that requirements 3 through 15 come after it, so thirteen of the seventeen requirements are waiting behind the Swimming merit badge and a 400-yard swim. Nothing else on this page moves until both are done.

16(a). Recognising when rescue breathing and CPR are needed Task

Described to your counselor.

16(b). CPR on a mannequin, under a qualified instructor Often forgotten Training

Rescue breathing and CPR knowledge and skills demonstrated on a mannequin under the guidance of a current CPR/AED instructor trained by a nationally certified provider. Somebody else's diary is involved. Book it early.

This needs a current CPR/AED instructor trained by a nationally certified provider, and a mannequin. That is a course to find and book rather than an afternoon to arrange, and it is the item on this badge most likely to be waiting on somebody else's calendar. Ask your counselor early what is available locally.

17. The other things that go wrong in and near water Task

Causes, prevention and treatment of hypothermia, dehydration, heat-related illnesses, muscle cramps, sunburn, stings and hyperventilation, discussed with your counselor. Also outside the gate.

2(a). Earn the Swimming merit badge Often forgotten Milestone

An entire merit badge with nine requirements and a swimmer test of its own, stated here as one line, and unlike the First Aid badge inside Emergency Preparedness, this one is a prerequisite. There is a separate plan for it on this site. Start it first.

An entire merit badge stated as one line, and here it is a prerequisite rather than a parallel task. Emergency Preparedness also contains another badge, First Aid, but lets you work everything else while it runs. Lifesaving does not. If you have not started Swimming, start it before anything else on this page. There is a separate plan for it on this site.

2(b). Swim 400 continuous yards, four strokes Often forgotten Milestone

Front crawl, sidestroke, breaststroke and elementary backstroke, at least 50 continuous yards of each, swum strongly and in good form with rhythmic breathing.

3. Explain how water rescue works before you do any Requirement

Five explanations, and two of them are about when not to act rather than how to.

Usually comes after 1. Review Safe Swim Defense with your counselor and 2. The gate: the Swimming badge and 400 yards.

3(a). The situations people actually drown in Task

Unfenced residential pools, drop-offs, river currents, rip currents and medical emergencies, and how to avoid them.

3(b). Recognising somebody who needs help Task

How to identify a person in the water who needs assistance.

3(c). The order of methods in water rescue Task

Which method is tried first, and why the order is the order. Requirements 4 to 7 then walk through it.

3(d). How the technique changes with the situation Task

How rescue techniques vary depending on the setting and on the condition of the person needing assistance.

3(e). When not to go in at all Often forgotten Task

The situations for which in-water rescues should not be undertaken. The most important explanation on this page.

4. Reaching rescues Task

Demonstrated using various items: an arm, a leg, towels, shirts, paddles, poles. You stay where you are.

5. Throwing rescues, and one that lands Task

Demonstrated with a line, ring buoy, rescue bag and free-floating support, and at least one aid successfully placed within reach of a practice victim 25 feet from shore.

Usually comes after 1. Review Safe Swim Defense with your counselor and 2. The gate: the Swimming badge and 400 yards.

6. Watch a rowing rescue and pick it apart Task

In person or on video, with your counselor's approval, performed from a rowboat, canoe, kayak or stand up paddleboard, then discuss with your counselor how effectively and efficiently it was done.

Usually comes after 1. Review Safe Swim Defense with your counselor and 2. The gate: the Swimming badge and 400 yards.

7. The aids for a "go" rescue, and why buoyant ones win Task

List the various items that can be used, and explain why buoyant aids are preferred.

Usually comes after 1. Review Safe Swim Defense with your counselor and 2. The gate: the Swimming badge and 400 yards.

8. Two rescues with buoyant aids, 30 feet out Requirement

A conscious practice subject in deep water, using two types of buoyant aid your counselor provides. Proper entry, strong approach stroke, and speaking to the subject to judge their condition and give instructions and encouragement.

Usually comes after 1. Review Safe Swim Defense with your counselor and 2. The gate: the Swimming badge and 400 yards.

8(a). Present an aid, release it, keep your distance Task

Give the subject the aid, let go, and swim at a safe distance while they move themselves to safety.

8(b). Present the other aid and tow Task

A separate rescue, this time using the aid to tow the subject to safety.

9. Clothes off in 20 seconds, then a nonbuoyant tow Often forgotten Task

Discuss when it is appropriate to remove heavy clothing before a swimming rescue, then remove street clothes in 20 seconds or less, enter the water, approach a conscious subject 30 feet out in deep water, and tow them with a nonbuoyant aid such as a shirt or towel.

Usually comes after 1. Review Safe Swim Defense with your counselor and 2. The gate: the Swimming badge and 400 yards.

10. Lead and wait, rather than making contact Task

Discuss with your counselor why contact with an active subject is avoided, and demonstrate lead-and-wait techniques.

Usually comes after 1. Review Safe Swim Defense with your counselor and 2. The gate: the Swimming badge and 400 yards.

11. Rescues with no equipment at all Requirement

For a conscious subject 30 feet from shore, beginning in the water near them, speaking to them throughout.

Usually comes after 1. Review Safe Swim Defense with your counselor and 2. The gate: the Swimming badge and 400 yards.

11(a). Armpit tow Task

For a calm, responsive, tired swimmer resting on a back float.

11(b). Cross-chest carry Task

For an exhausted but responsive subject treading water.

12. Escape from a grasp Task

In deep water: escape a grasp on your wrist, then repeat for front and rear holds about the head and shoulders.

Usually comes after 1. Review Safe Swim Defense with your counselor and 2. The gate: the Swimming badge and 400 yards.

13. Rescues of an unconscious subject Often forgotten Requirement

At or near the surface 30 feet from shore. Proper entry, strong approach stroke, speaking and splashing to judge their condition before making contact, then out of the water quickly, with help if needed, and positioned for CPR.

Usually comes after 1. Review Safe Swim Defense with your counselor and 2. The gate: the Swimming badge and 400 yards.

This is the hardest group in the badge and it ends outside the water: the subject is removed quickly, with assistance if needed, and positioned for CPR. All three approaches begin with speaking to and splashing the subject to establish their condition before contact.

13(a). Equipment assist with a buoyant aid Task

The first of the three.

13(b). Front approach and wrist tow Task

The second.

13(c). Rear approach and armpit tow Task

The third.

14. When the victim has gone under Requirement

Discuss with your counselor how to respond if a victim submerges before the rescuer reaches them, then two recoveries.

Usually comes after 1. Review Safe Swim Defense with your counselor and 2. The gate: the Swimming badge and 400 yards.

14(a). Feetfirst dive to a 10-pound weight Task

Recovered from 8 to 10 feet of water.

14(b). The same again, headfirst Task

Repeated with a headfirst surface dive.

15. Managing a spinal injury Requirement

Three parts, demonstrated and discussed with your counselor. The last requirement behind the gate.

Usually comes after 1. Review Safe Swim Defense with your counselor and 2. The gate: the Swimming badge and 400 yards.

15(a). Causes, signs and symptoms Task

Discussed with your counselor.

15(b). Support a faceup subject Task

In calm water of standing depth.

15(c). Turn a subject facedown to faceup Task

In water of standing depth, maintaining support throughout the turn.

Counselor signs it off Milestone

The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.

Usually comes after 15. Managing a spinal injury, 16. Resuscitation and 17. The other things that go wrong in and near water.