Boat Safety Scheme - media statement
Published on: 25 Feb 2016
At today’s Authority meeting the Lake District National Park decided not to adopt the Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) following the Marine Accident Investigation Board’s (MAIB) recommendation, as the scheme is not an effective comprehensive method of addressing the important issue of boat safety.
While we support many of the scheme’s initiatives, these alone would not necessarily ensure public safety. Our reasons for not adopting the Boat Safety Scheme include:
* The BSS inspection is not a full condition survey and does not provide a fit for purpose evaluation
* It is not a mandatory condition to install a carbon monoxide or smoke detector on-board a boat under the BSS scheme
* The BSS inspection is only conducted every four years. This would not necessarily ensure safety of users
* For the BSS to be adopted it requires byelaw changes. Byelaws are designed to address local issues and must not attempt to address issues that are of national concern.
As part of our lake management, we believe the best way to ensure boat users understand how to stay safe on a boat is through the education rather than enforcement. We will continue to share the BSS ‘Stay Safe’ campaign information and will also run a promotional campaign from spring 2016 to ensure users are informed and educated on all aspects of boat safety.
Although we will not be adopting the BSS, we will be ensuring boat users on LDNP property have third party liability insurance prior to setting out onto a lake – these include Coniston and Ullswater moorings. However it does not include Windermere, as this is managed by South Lakeland District Council and private moorings, many of which already have an insurance requirement in place.
