Water Sports Safety : Facts and Figures
RoSPA publishes statistics on deaths by drowning each year. These are collated from press reports and drowning report forms completed by the police and coroners offices. It is often difficult to ascertain the activity that was taking place prior to the victim entering the water or getting into difficulties. Anecdotal evidence illustrates areas where people are at risk, for example, sea anglers are at risk of getting washed off rocks, canoeists are at risk around weirs and sailors who fall overboard without a life-jacket are at greater risk than those wearing one. The table below shows some data from RoSPA that is available for some water-sport fatalities over the past 5 years.
| Activity |
2002 |
2001 |
2000 |
1999 |
1998 |
| Angling from land |
13 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
13 |
| Angling from boat |
11 |
7 |
8 |
14 |
2 |
| Swimming |
34 |
33 |
34 |
45 |
33 |
| Boating |
22 |
22 |
21 |
25 |
62 |
| Sub-aqua |
9 |
18 |
13 |
8 |
16 |
| Canoeing |
2 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
| All drowning deaths |
427 |
430 |
448 |
570 |
568 |
It is difficult to establish trends or patterns when the numbers are so small and there is no cross-reference made to the numbers participating in the sport. Therefore use of this data to draw conclusions should be guarded. For more comprehensive figures on fatalities contact the governing body of the particular sport or activity that you are interested in, you will find details in the water sports organisations section.
Statistics on accident rates for leisure activities have been collected from hospital accident departments by the Department for Trade and Industry since 1978 using the Leisure Accident Surveillance System (LASS). Sports accidents can be analysed by the type of sporting activity and the age and gender of those involved. The collection of this data concluded in 2003 and the last available published data is for the year 2002. A copy of the complete database has been transferred to RoSPA's Information Centre who will provide an enquiry service based on the database for a further 5 years. Enquiries can be made to infocentre@rospa.com
A system has been developed by RoSPA and the RNLI to provide a central point from which information, in a standard format, relating to incidents at inland water locations can be obtained and used to promote water safety. The system is known as INREM and there is further information about it in the information section. The collection of data about inland incidents using the INREM database began in January 2004. The system does record the activity that the person was engaged in prior to needing assistance.
Some water sport organisations also collect their own accident and incident data, for example the British Sub Aqua Club, so if you are interested in statistics for a particular sport it is worth contacting a particular organisation to find out more. Further details can be found in the organisations section.
