Updated safety guidance for beaches

As lockdown restrictions ease across all four nations of the United Kingdom, people have the opportunity to explore the country. Like 2020, this summer is expected to be busy for the UK’s coastal and inland waters.

In anticipation of a busy summer season, The National Water Safety Forum has updated its guidance on Maintaining the safety of the public and staff on beaches during COVID-19.

Following consultation with National Water Safety Forum members, this guidance document has been updated to help and provide guidance for beach managers and landowners including local authorities, trusts and private organisations.

Nation-specific advice has been incorporated into the updated document in order to help better reflect the differing advice of the UK home nations as they work through their respective COVID-19 recovery plans. A new infographic has also been incorporated into the document to help bring together a useful diagram for assessing COVID-19 factors in coastal areas.

The guidance also features a new case study from Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council who saw a record number of beach visitors in June 2020 – with one day around  half a million people visited the 15 mile stretch of beach. Extra security patrols and COVID marshals have been deployed in the area as well as the creation of the BCP BeachCheck app which helps people check how busy the beaches are as well as the carparks before they arrive.

You can access the full guidance online here: https://www.nationalwatersafety.org.uk/advice-and-information/covid-19/

For more in depth guidance on beach safety, check out MCA’s Managing Beach Safety . Alternatively for inland water safety, check out RoSPA’s Managing Safety at Inland waters
 
Carlene McAvoy,
Leisure Safety Manager
 

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