Posted By Martyn Hendrie I raised a similar thread some months ago and was directed to Rospa's Water Safety Adviser who was very helpful. They have devised a risk assessment guide.(Contact No. 0121 248 2000) Hope that this helps.

Posted By Graham Bullough To echo the first response, do have a look at the RoSPA water safety risk assessment guidance. I've probably not seen the latest version, but the material RoSPA produced some years ago was sensible and practical. As for judgements in reported compensation cases - which tend to be against local authorities, some of them seem perverse and made by people who have little idea about risk assessment and the concept of "reasonably practicable". One or two of the judgements I've seen seem to suggest that local authorities are liable unless they put up high security fences around the perimeters of every lake and other stretches of water they own or manage. If I recall correctly one of these cases arose last year following an incident in which a man suffered permanent injury after diving into what he thought was deep water, but was in fact (probably muddy) water with a shallow gently sloping bed! By contrast one rarely sees fencing alongside canals and canal locks, even in built-up areas where significant numbers of people use the towpaths! If you follow what I recall of the RoSPA guidance, canal locks pose a significant risk because they are effectively water filled pits with vertical sides and are usually unfenced. If you fall in and the water level is low you may suffer serious injury if you hit the solid bed. If you aren't injured when you fall in, you may have difficulty getting out. (However, in the last year or two British Waterways have installed a recessed ladder in one side of each compound of a flight of locks in a populated area near my home) I don't know the statistics for incidents involving canals or whether there is even some sort of long established legal or customary exemption for canals from the need to fence or even display warning signs. I don't intend my comments about canals as a criticism - they're more to illustrate the evident inconsistency within the UK about the differences in protection and judicial attitudes about different types of publicly accessible water. Given that it is simply not reasonably practicable to enclose all stretches of accessible water, effective education of children and young people about safety near water by parents, youth leaders, teachers, etc. is crucial and should be encouraged. The same comments apply, especially at this time of year, about the risks posed by ponds and lakes, etc. when they freeze over!

Posted By peter gotch Paul, Reference Andy's posting you will find information about the NT case on the Internet. Darby v National Trust at ?Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire. Regards, Peter