The National Water Safety Forum

The National Water Safety Forum (NWSF) is a voluntary association of organisations selected to represent a broad cross section of UK water safety interests. The forum has five Advisory Groups and an Information Group, all of which report to a Co-ordinating Group which in turn, has strong advisory links with a government interdepartmental group. This structure ensures that the majority of emerging safety issues are identified, discussed and collectively managed, promoting harmonised safety messages and agreed water-related incident analysis.    

The NWSF replaced the National Water Safety Committee (NWSC) following a government review into Inland Water safety. The review ('Inland Water Safety: Final Report of Scoping Study: Present Roles and Responsibilities: August 2002: www.dft.gov.uk)., known as 'Roles and Responsibilities', recognised that responsibility for inland water safety was spread across a number of Government departments and led to the reorganisation of the NWSC, enchancing its membership, encouraging full involvment by all relevant stakeholderss and strengthening links to government.

The focus of the NWSF is primarily the UK recreational sector. NWSF Advisory Groups cover sea safety, beach safety, water sports, swimming pool safety and inland waterway safety. The NWSF Information group collects and analyses incident data, and produces reports for the benefit of the forum, industry and the general public. RoSPA provides the secretariat for the Forum with funding from the Department for Transport and the Department of the Environment and Rural Affairs.

Please follow the link below to visit the National Water Safety Forum's website.