A few weeks ago, yellow huts placed on a wooden base at a low height from the ground began to appear on Palma's beaches. These are the new watchtowers for the lifeguards. There are 16 in all, eight on Platja de Palma, two in Cala Major, two in Can Pere Antoni, two in Ciutat Jardí and one in Cala Estància.
Since the beginning of March, the old towers have been removed and replaced by new American-style towers. Now, they will be located at 2 and 2.5 metres high, will be closed, will have openings on the sides, will be glazed, will protect the guards from the weather and the sun, and will be in this colour to make them more visible.
Both the Town Hall and Emergencies 7,000, the company that has the concession, stress that the new height does not pose any problem for the performance of surveillance, since the booths have passed the inspection of occupational hazards and have "clean vision", says the manager of the company, José Antonio Escadell. Moreover, "if it is detected that any of them do not comply with the measures, they will be modified during the week", says Cort's director of the Environment, Sebastià Pujol. All the towers will be ready for this Saturday, coinciding with the start of the season.
New tender
This change in the city's beaches comes as a result of the tender put out by Palma's Town Hall in August 2023 for the stands, which in turn was motivated by the strike called by the lifeguards that same year to achieve better pay and employment. Later, a collective agreement was signed and the tender documents established the renovation of the towers for the beginning of 2024.
It should be noted that two new towers have been added this year, going from seven to eight in Platja de Palma and establishing one that did not exist before in Es Penyo, in Ciutat Jardí. In addition, all of them have a space for lifeguards to change and store their equipment.