RoSPA National Water Safety Congress

WATER safety information is crucial in reducing the number of accidental drownings that claim hundreds of lives each year, a national conference hosted by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) will hear.

RoSPA’s National Water Safety Congress, taking place at the Thistle Hotel in Bristol from March 3–4, will focus on how people can be equipped to make informed choices about safety issues in and around water, including in relation to their own behaviour.

In the UK in 2005, 435 people, including 39 children, drowned accidentally. Nearly 200 of these tragedies are known to have happened in inland waters, such as lakes, rivers and canals.

Peter Cornall of RoSPA said: ‘Site operators obviously have important responsibilities in relation to drowning prevention, and there have been recent developments at the regulatory level including the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, and the growing focus on the duties of senior managers.

During the conference, entitled ‘Information into Education – Looking to the Future’, the National Water Safety Congress will introduce to delegates its principles for managing water safety, which, when adopted, will provide site operators with a reasoned rationale for making difficult decisions that affect the safety of the public and workers on, in and around water.

There will also be a special focus on the key responsibilities of directors and senior managers and the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, while other presentations will cover areas such as sensible safety versus common law liability and dealing with the aftermath of an accident.