Safety Standards
Swimming lessons put your child in the water with an adult you have probably never met. We take that seriously. This page explains, in plain language, what we require of every coach and every partner pool on TrySwim — and exactly what to do if something ever doesn't feel right.
Coach vetting & background screening
No coach can take a booking on TrySwim until they have been through our vetting process. Every coach must:
- Prove who they are. We verify each coach's identity and their right to work in Malaysia before they appear on the platform.
- Hold real qualifications. Coaches must hold and keep current the swimming-instruction certifications we accept, plus a current CPR and first-aid certification — and tell us before their next lesson if anything lapses.
- Pass criminal-history screening. Coaches provide police clearance and background-screening documents before approval. A history of sexual offences, offences against children, serious violence, or drug trafficking disqualifies a coach outright.
- Stay vetted. Screening isn't one-and-done — we can require re-vetting periodically and after any complaint, incident, or safeguarding concern, and suspend a coach until it's complete.
These requirements are contractual conditions of coaching on TrySwim — you can read them in full in the Coach Agreement.
Our safeguarding code
Every coach signs up to a safeguarding code of conduct built on one principle: the child's welfare comes first — ahead of commercial interest, reputation, or convenience. In practice that means:
- Professional boundaries, always. Respectful, age-appropriate language and behaviour; any necessary teaching contact is minimal, explained in advance, and stops the moment a child is uncomfortable.
- Lessons happen in open view. Lessons take place in open, visible parts of the pool — never in enclosed or private spaces — and coaches must avoid being alone and unobserved with a child. For one-to-one lessons, the parent or guardian is expected to stay present and within sight.
- Communication stays in the app. Coaches communicate through the platform — no private contact with a child, and no moving conversations off-platform without the parent's consent.
- No photography of children. Coaches may not take, store, or share images or video of children on personal devices. Marketing imagery only ever happens through our separate, specific consent process.
- Strict changing-room rules. Coaches do not enter changing rooms or toilets while a child is changing, never supervise a child changing alone, and always change separately from children.
Coaches are required to report any concern immediately — and we can suspend or remove a coach from the platform straight away as a protective measure while a concern is looked into.
Supervision & emergency readiness
- Qualified supervision during lessons. Our facility terms require the agreed supervision standard — a qualified lifeguard and the supervising coach present — to be maintained throughout each lesson. If the required supervision isn't available, the lesson is cancelled or rescheduled rather than run short.
- First-aid-ready coaches. Because every coach must hold a current CPR and first-aid certification, there is a trained responder in every lesson.
- Emergency procedures. Partner pools operate with incident-handling procedures, and in an emergency the priority is always the same: the child first, then the report.
How to report a concern
If you see or hear anything that worries you — about a coach, a pool, or anything else on TrySwim — please tell us. You don't need to be certain, and we will never penalise a report made in good faith.
- Report to us: email our safeguarding team at safeguarding@tryswim.my. Every report goes to our Designated Safeguarding Lead.
- In an emergency: call the police on 999 first, then tell us.
- National child-welfare helpline: Talian Kasih 15999 (24 hours).
The full risk disclosures and consents that apply to every booking are in our Liability Waiver & Parental Consent.