Rivers: Suicide
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with (a) the Environment Agency and (b) colleagues from the Department of Health and Social Care on the installation of signage to prevent suicides on river banks.
Answered by Emma Hardy
Water safety responsibility is shared across government and there are collective, ongoing discussions. Defra’s responsibility is to ensure that the water environment is safe and healthy, and to oversee bodies such as the Environment Agency (EA).
The EA’s public safety risk assessment process identifies the necessity for water safety signage at EA owned or managed assets. These highlight the risks associated with the asset, for example ‘fast flowing water’ or ‘strong currents’. The EA signage does not routinely include messaging on suicide prevention, however the EA does support the placement of third-party signage at its assets, for example Samaritans’ signage.
On unregulated inland waterways, the responsibility for provision of water safety equipment and warning signage rests with the riparian landowners/land managers, or with Local Authorities typically in larger urban areas.
Other organisations have larger roles in developing and communicating water safety guidance. The Local Government Association produced a water safety toolkit for councils, with the National Water Safety Forum (NWSF). It aims to better understand and reduce water-related self-harm.
Defra group amplifies wider water safety measures developed by experts like the Canal and River Trust and NWSF through public communications.
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