Sarah’s an engineer with ACCIONA, currently based at Glen Huntly on the Southern Program Alliance Level Crossing Removal Project. She started at ACCIONA in February 2021, as COVID was inflicting all sorts of urgency and dysfunction on the construction industry. She took it all in her stride, and set about learning as much as she could. ‘I was employed as a graduate engineer,’ she says, ‘cycling through a few different roles. It was really fun.’

So far, so conventional. But it’s the other side of Sas’s life that might surprise you. By the time she started with ACCIONA, she’d been a beach lifeguard for six years. When she started, she was among the Australian Lifeguard Service’s youngest employees. Although beachgoers sometimes miss the distinction – the uniforms are very similar – lifeguards are professional, paid employees, whereas lifesavers are volunteers. Over a typical summer season, Victorian lifeguards do Monday to Friday patrols and Saturday mornings. The volunteers do Saturday afternoons, Sundays and public holidays.

All lifeguards are currently lifesavers as well, and in Sas’s case, her home club is Portsea. Perched in the dunes above an exposed and notoriously dangerous stretch of surf beach, it’s the biggest club in Victoria, with nearly 6000 members and 600 active lifesavers.

‘I spoke to my boss at the time, and he was really understanding and eager to help me’

Sas says that when she started at ACCIONA, ‘I thought I was done with lifeguarding, and it was time to move on to the real world.’ But life threw a surprise at her: long viewed as a potential leader and as one of Victoria’s most experienced and reliable lifeguards, she won the Beach Lifeguard of the Year award at the Life Saving Victoria Awards of Excellence 2021. ‘And then I got the call to be chief lifeguard for the Mornington Peninsula,’ she explains. It was a huge opportunity: ‘I almost couldn’t say no. I spoke to my boss at the time, Andrew Rattray, and he was really understanding and eager to help me.’

So she took on the challenge of managing both roles. As chief lifeguard, she became responsible for managing ‘a really tight group of sixty 17-25 year olds, some of whom are older than me: essentially making sure people don’t drown at the beach and looking after jet ski operators.’

Then there’s the Westpac Helicopter Rescue Service: Sas is currently the youngest female on the crew (there are two females among 16 crew members).

‘I’m the third female ever in the crew, since 2007. It’s also completely volunteer, but I had to apply and be selected. There’s fitness testing, psychometric testing, interviews… it’s a four-month process to get in, but something I always wanted to do. So I got the opportunity and I jumped at it.’

She points out that she has only 10 or 12 shifts in January, then one weekend day a month in the off season. But the commitment is significant. ‘I’m a rescue crew person,’ she explains. ‘So I go down the winch. They’re 12-hour shifts, and you’d only spend two or three hours of it flying, responding to a call, or tasking. But at the end of a shift you’re completely stuffed.’

Is it scary being dangled into someone else’s nightmare situation? ‘It depends on what you’re doing – if you’re just being lowered into a wide-open paddock, or into a body of water, it’s not too bad, but winching into confined areas can be a little more stressful. I spent three months training for it. I never want to say I feel confident, because it’s always good to be feeling cautious. It’s always a crew decision, whether to lower the winch or not. I haven’t yet been lowered into a live rescue situation – this was only my first season. It’s actually good news that I haven’t been needed yet.’

If you think all of this this is beyond the capacity of most people… there’s more.

Sas is also the Lifesaving Director for those 600 members at Portsea Surf Lifesaving Club. ‘I’m not the first point of contact on the day,’ she says. ‘The Patrol Captain is. But there’s 31 patrol captains, and I’m their first of contact if there’s an issue.’

We’ve all seen the media images of packed summer beaches, all those vulnerable bodies tumbling in the sea. How does it feel to be in charge of guarding so many lives? ‘I put a lot of trust in the lifeguards in the region. If ever they’re not doing their job properly, or we’re not seeing results, I don’t blame them. I take it as a warning that I’m not doing my job properly. They’re a group of young people, still learning. I’ve also learned not to see every first aid, every rescue, as being somehow my fault. We’re all doing the best we can, and in my case that’s making sure everyone’s up to date with their skills and awards, and feeling safe and respected at work.

‘Being chief, I don’t spend a lot of time at the beach anymore. I might fill in gaps on the roster or do a shift with a particular person to make sure they’re okay. I’m usually on a laptop, doing rosters, responding to issues, or conducting audits.

‘There’s essentially two roles on the beach: a Team Leader/Patrol Captain or Lifeguard/Lifesaver. The team leader has a huge responsibility: it’s their beach for the day. They have to make sure everyone has a role, knows their role, make sure the beach is set up in the right way for the day. I can’t possibly cover the set up of every beach at 10am each day.’

‘There’s all sorts of things I’ve learnt at ACCIONA that I can bring to the chief lifeguard role, and vice versa.’

Sas is finding there’s lots of parallels between chief lifeguarding and working in construction. ‘There’s all sorts of things I’ve learnt at ACCIONA that I can bring to the chief lifeguard role, and vice versa.’ She maintains that the biggest asset in a crisis is the ability to remain calm under pressure: having a clear mind. ‘There’s always chaos – in occupations, especially – and you can tell who’s able to think clearly and respond, and who’s just reacting.’

Although she says she’s still sorting out her career ambitions, Sas has a clear preference for the project management side of her work, which was also the subject of her Honours year at university. ‘The management of people and resources is something I know I like: I’m a bit of a control freak!’

For now, the juggle between work and the water will continue. ‘It was a huge season and I definitely felt the burden. I don’t always love doing the two jobs at once because I want to give 100% to one role only. But it’s taught me so much about time management, managing my own fatigue levels, and being more aware of other people’s fatigue levels. I didn’t have a single day off this summer. But the passion for it is the compensation – it’s not too bad.’

Looking back at the sudden escalation of her lifeguarding and lifesaving commitments, Sas is grateful for ACCIONA’s support. ‘I was pretty lucky that I had a great relationship with my manager at the time – that took a lot of the stress out of it. That communication’s vital, and being open with what you want, and what you think will benefit you – not just with skills, but with your mental health and happiness. Coming in as a grad, you start working full time and it can be mentally draining, so somehow you have to find time to allow yourself to explore life. You’re in your early twenties after all, and as long as it doesn’t compromise your work, you need to actually be young. Work’s a priority, but I’m also a human being with needs and wants. So I was just super open, and I put it all out on the table rather than hiding it and being secretive. “This is it – this is who I am.” That allowed ACCIONA to plan.

‘I’m so grateful that ACCIONA lets me do this’

‘I’m so grateful that ACCIONA lets me do this. In any other state, you have to be a paramedic to be in the position I’m in. I’m just a volunteer with some extra medical and lifesaving skills.’