The Boat Safety Scheme's (BSS) co-sponsors, the Environment Agency and British Waterways, have re-published the Scheme's safety Standards and associated Check List items following an extensive review of the scope of the Scheme. Although the total number of Check List items have not changed, nor the Standards that they support, the emphasis placed on compliance with them to obtain a navigation licence has been altered for around one quarter of all Check List items.
The independent Review Team which looked at the BSS's rationale, operation and management published 12 recommendations in March 2001 on how the Scheme could be improved. The Review Team recommended to British Waterways and the Environment Agency that only those Check List items which represent essential safety or environmental requirements should be Mandatory for a privately owned boat to be granted a navigation licence. All other Check List items should become Advisory, and that the navigation authorities must emphasise the importance of compliance with these Check List items to enhance personal safety.
An extensive consultation programme with the boating public, user groups, trade bodies and professional organisations on the appropriateness of Check List items as Mandatory requirements helped to inform British Waterways and the Environment Agency when defining the new status of each BSS Check List item.
Nearly 2,000 completed consultation documents were received from individual boaters along with scores of additional comments concerning the BSS requirements. Boating associations and representatives of other groups provided written comments and advised the navigation authorities at committee stages of the Check List review.
Bill Schlegel, technical and environmental director for British Waterways, oversaw the process behind the re-published list of BSS Check List items. He is confident the Scheme's owners have got the balance right between essential safety requirements which are regulated for and those safety features that are considered 'best safety practice' and which are the responsibility of a navigation authority to raise awareness off through educational programmes.
He says: “The Review Team's objective was to simplify the Boat Safety Scheme, and we are confident this is what has happened with the re-publication of the BSS Check List items. The responsibility for safety out on the waterways is shared between the licensing authority and individual boat owners, and it's now down to both parties to recognise where risk lies and to work together towards eliminating it.”
Mark Rowe, head of navigation and recreation for the Environment Agency, says it is important to emphasise that safety is everybody's responsibility. He says: “Because there are now fewer Mandatory Check List items to comply with before applying for a navigation licence there may be a temptation to only meet these minimum requirements amongst some private boat owners, boat builders and boat yards. We will do everything that we can with British Waterways, the trade and others to encourage everyone to comply with all the Advisory Check List items set out in the Boat Safety Scheme Standards. After all, only by meeting all the safety requirements can a boater be confident that he has met his/her legal obligations to take reasonable steps to minimise the risk of death or serious injury to himself, the crew and other waterway users.”
The re-published list comes into operation from 1 January 2002 and replaces all previous versions of the Boat Safety Scheme's Check List items. British Waterways and the Environment Agency are currently informing all BSS stakeholders of the changes to the Scheme while completing other areas of implementation work in line with the Review Team's recommendations.
A handbook to replace the three small 'Blue/Grey BSS booklets' is being developed and will support the change in emphasis for parts of the Scheme. Called 'The Boat Safety Scheme Guide', it takes the reader step-by-step through each area of a BSS examination, the reasons for the Checks and how risks can be minimised to ensure everybody's safety on and around a boat.
By the use of diagrams, tips from examiners and true anecdotes that encourage safe practices, along with a comprehensive Check List of safety items at the end of each section, the Guide is intended to be kept onboard for reference throughout the life of a boat. It will be mailed to all BW/EA powered-craft licence holders in January 2002 and will form the basis of a new, interactive web site dedicated to boating safety.
An improved Quality Assurance programme for BSS examiners is nearing completion, designed to ensure consistency throughout the examination process. Clear and simple documentation on how to examine each Check List item has been developed in conjunction with writing for the new Boat Safety Scheme Guide, sharing knowledge between examiners and boat owners with the aim of making the examination process smoother and easier to understand.
In future, examiners will complete an easy-to-follow status record of the Check List items, leaving one copy with the boat owner, providing the BSS Office with a copy and keeping one copy for his/her own records. This will show whether the boat has met all Check List items, just the Mandatory items or a mix of both, and will include an additional report on the inventory of appliances such as fridges, space heaters and hot water appliances.
The Check List status record and appliance inventory are designed to help owners rectify points of failure and act as an endorsement to the overall status of the vessel at the time of the examination. Boat owners will be encouraged to keep all documents connected with the boat inside a special wallet that comes as part of The Boat Safety Scheme Guide.
To mark these important developments for the Boat Safety Scheme, British Waterways and the Environment Agency are jointly promoting boat safety at the London International Boat Show at Earls Court in January 2002. Full technical advice will be available to visitors to the Stand, along with copies of the new Boat Safety Scheme Guide and other information about boating safely on the inland waterways. The Boat Safety Scheme will be at Stand Number 60B.
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Notes to editors:
The re-published list of Boat Safety Scheme Check List items is attached to this media release. It shows the status of each item and provides commentary on highlights.
Time Limited Exemptions granted to boat owners for licensing purposes since February 2001 are now being reviewed by the navigation authorities against the re-published list of BSS Check List items. In cases where an exemption has become a Mandatory requirement, the appropriate navigation authority will notify the private boat owner of the compliance requirement and giving six months' notice for rectification. British Waterways and the Environment Agency will also pay up to £50 of the cost of re-examination and a pass certificate where achieved, as a gesture of goodwill.
