Michael has been intimately involved in lifeguarding and aquatic safety consulting for more than 20 years beginning as a lifeguard in Naperville, Illinois at Centennial Beach. This six year experience was initiated by his competitive swimming background and opened the door to a career in aquatic safety consulting with the firm of Jeff Ellis & Associates, Inc.
From 1992 until 2004 Michael worked in many different capacities with Jeff Ellis & Associates, Inc., at the end of his tenure he was Vice-President over international, investigations, litigation support and Walt Disney World Consulting. He presently in a Senior Associate with the firm.
2004-Present Michael established Oostman Aquatic Safety Consulting, Inc. to provide the aquatic community with a resource specifically designed to deal with aquatic related investigations, litigation support and seminars
Michael has trained and evaluated lifeguards in the following countries: Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, England, France, Mexico, Netherlands, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and U.A.E. This experience has provided a global appreciation to the profession of lifeguarding.
To date, Michael has performed over five hundred (500) drowning and near-drowning investigations. This experience provides not only historical data from which to pull but also a pragmatic familiarity with the drowning process and the resulting consequences.
Michael has been retained in over sixty (60) cases in and around aquatic matters.
From 1998-2004 Michael was the Jeff Ellis & Associates, Inc. in-house consultant to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. This position provided daily consulting to Disney regarding waterpark operations and resort guarding as well as the open-water operation in the Bahamas at Castaway Cay. In addition, Michael was responsible for the training of approximately 1500 lifeguards annually, which were licensed by E&A.
From 1992-2004 Michael performed approximately eight hundred (800) audits/inspection at waterparks, swimming pools, lakes and ocean operations.
Michael has presented at over fifty (50) different trade shows and symposiums on the topics of aquatic risk management.