Canal Boat — November 2017

74 November 2017 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk

I

remember some years ago a Fenland

farmer telling me in no uncertain

terms that he didn’t think much of the

Boat Safety Scheme. He had kept his

small cruiser on his farm, took the

precaution of having a BSS completed

before launching and popped her in the

water – it promptly sank...

In many ways, I think this short story

illustrates a misconception many people

have, possibly not unreasonably given its

title, as to what the BSS inspection is for.

For many, a boat passing the BSS means it

is ‘safe’ which it isn’t necessarily, particularly

if you take the farmer’s view that a boat

that floats is safer than one that doesn’t.

The reality is that a boat having just

passed its BSS is known to be ‘safer’ at

that moment in time in a number of

specific areas. So, to understand why the

BSS focuses only on certain things let’s

just quickly reflect on the history of

the scheme.

The Boat Safety Scheme, as we know it

today, has its roots way back in 1980.

British Waterways, who were responsible

for many of the waterways, felt compelled

to introduce a set of minimum installation

standards. To begin with these were only

mandatory for hire boats as they were

licensed, hence BW had a responsibility,

and tended to be used by people who

were unaware of the ‘dangers’.

The main dangers or risks to the hirers,

and most importantly the general public,

was from fire and explosion, not sinking,

and therefore reasonably this is what they

focused on.

Much later, in 1996, similar minimum

standards wrapped up in the form of the

BSS, as we now know it, became

mandatory for private owners too. The

rationale for making these minimum

standards applicable to all really was the

same as that for the hire boats. If BW was

to license a pleasure boat to use its waters,

it had a responsibility to try to ensure that

the vessel did not harm innocent boaters,

staff or members of the general public.

So, as with the hire boats, the main risks

were known and the stated aim of the BSS

‘to help minimise the risk of pollution, fire

and explosion’ has remained the same.

So where does all this background lead

us? A number of really good messages

come out of it. The scheme has clear aims,

the standards are well defined and

written, it has been running for a long time

and it is clearly improving overall safety.

Practically, for most boat owners, the

fact that it has been going for so long is

helpful as most boats will be over four

years of age and have already been

inspected at least once. Therefore, if a

boat has passed before then logic would

dictate that it is likely to pass again unless:

Just because a boat was

fine four years ago, that

doesn’t unfortunately

mean it’s still ‘safe’

WORDS BY: MARK DOUGLAS

Why the

BSS?

How’s this for a gas drain spigot...

Pipe chafing happens over time