What does Bronze Medallion skills maintenance involve?

The latest national requirements published openly are in SLSA Circular 74/24-25, Skills Maintenance (Proficiency Check) Requirements for the 2025/26 Season, issued 29 May 2025. The 2026/27 national requirements are set in SLSA Circular 80/25-26, which Surf Life Saving Queensland's 2026/27 proficiency update names as its source, so the content below was the national minimum for 2025/26 and may have changed.

2025/26 theory (online): watch a video update on changes to skills maintenance requirements, SLS procedures and ANZCOR guidelines, and, in states introducing Lifesaving CPR, complete a short eLearning module on those techniques.

2025/26 practical:

1. Run-Swim-Rescue (timed): 100 m run and 100 m swim in 3 minutes 30 seconds or less, swimming with a rescue tube (fins optional), securing a conscious patient, then swimming 100 m back to the beach with the patient and assisting them to the water's edge.
2. Signals: beach to water and water to beach.
3. Resuscitation: in states introducing Lifesaving CPR, the face-to-face Lifesaving CPR training meets the annual requirement. Elsewhere, a primary assessment on a live patient including the lateral position, 1 and 2 person CPR on a manikin (adult or child and infant) with a mask or face shield and AED, and a team CPR scenario.
4. First aid scenarios typical of patrol (Bronze Medallion only): spinal management, orthopaedic injuries (soft tissue and fractures) and cardiac conditions.

State or territory centres may add requirements. Surf Life Saving Queensland's 2026/27 update sets 31 December 2026 as the completion date for the state requirements it lists.