Water Safety Advice For Your BusinessWelcome to our online area dedicated to supporting businesses with water safety advice and support services, including bespoke training, consultancy, qualifications, equipment, and collaborative opportunities. As a charity, our primary interest lies in water safety. Our services offer impartial, honest, cost-effective solutions that best suit your water safety needs and help create a safer environment. PLUS, 100% of all profits from our business support services go into helping us educate more people on how to enjoy water safely. Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) is proud to be the UK and Ireland's industry leader in water-related safety qualifications and training for aquatic, open water, and beach operators and be recognised worldwide as an expert in lifeguarding and water safety. We work with an impressive list of national leisure operators and partners - from hotels, spas, and competition pools to leisure centres, aqua parks and open water venues. We have also supported many businesses and landowners in meeting their responsibilities to water safety. Our trusted brand gives peace of mind to businesses and the millions of people who access the facilities and sites we support. Qualifications and Awards Water safety training is essential for any business with employees working on, in, or near water. Every year, we certify more than 60,000 regulated qualifications and non-regulated vocational training awards, including First Aid Essentials and more lifeguards qualify with RLSS UK than any other awarding body! Bespoke Training We support many large organisations and businesses with more bespoke training needs - including the cruise and holiday industries. We can adapt 'off the shelf' RLSS UK qualifications and awards to provide a solution or create new, bespoke training products or packages tailored to your business. Consultancy We are experts at delivering clear and practical consultancy support to any business, organisation or individual with liabilities to visitors and staff around water. Our consultancy work is varied, and we cover a wide range of locations across the UK. For example, in 2023, we completed projects including water safety risk assessments for indoor pools and open water venues, local authorities and private landowners who own/manage bodies of water, as well as water safety audits on the coast. RLSS UK Shop We are also at the forefront of supporting companies in manufacturing and distributing innovative and compliant lifesaving equipment, and the RLSS UK Shop offers official uniforms and training, first aid, and safety equipment for the leisure industry and beyond.To find out how we can help your business, contact us at [email protected]. Trusted by 1,000s of customers such as... < Open Water Services Consultancy Training & Qualifications Lifeguard NWSMP DEFRA First Aid at Work Aqua Parks Essential Water Safety Guidance Swimming Pool Services Consultancy Training & Qualifications Lifeguard First Aid Trainer Assessor Pool Management NRASTC Pool Technology Essential Guidance Hotels and Spa Pools Industry Qualifications Why Choose Us Regulated Qualifications For Your Staff For Your Customers Bespoke Training Deliver our Qualifications Partners Become an Approved Training Centre / Provider Become a Commercial Partner Become a Water Safety Partner RLSS UK Advisors RLSS UK's expertise supports an important research paper on the potentially fatal effects of shallow-water blackout, also known as hypoxic blackout 02/03/2026 A new research paper aims to better understand the causes of a rapid decline in blood oxygen supply to the brain, which can lead to unconsciousness in water. Understanding how and why this suddenly occurs, and what can be done to mitigate the risk, is essential to ensuring everyone can enjoy water safely. The paper was published in Experimental Physiology and led by Professor Andrew Baker and Professor Hugh Montgomery with several co-authors, including Jo Talbot at RLSS UK. Shallow-water blackout and hypoxic blackout occur abruptly and can happen at any depth, and in many different circumstances and situations. The conditions result in a rapid drop in blood oxygen supply to the brain, which causes unconsciousness.Shallow water blackout refers to loss of consciousness on ascent from a breath-hold swim to depth (e.g., free-diving and spear fishing), and hypoxic blackout typically occurs whilst breath-hold swimming, for instance, ‘doing lengths underwater’. To highlight the need for further study, two fathers gave personal, emotional experiences of the life-or-death impact shallow water blackout and hypoxic blackout have had on their teenage sons. Professor Andrew Baker, father of George, said, “I felt as if the world was quickly collapsing. … We went to the edge of the abyss.” Everyone is at risk, but paradoxically, both conditions often affect healthy and young people with strong swimming abilities. Factors such as water temperature, recent experience, fitness, and duration of exposure influence the risk. The research notes that wanting to achieve a goal, such as extending a breath-hold underwater by swimming for a longer time, pushing for a greater distance underwater, or completing a task underwater, such as spearfishing, can alter or override the natural urge to breathe and quickly lead to loss of consciousness. The paper provides recommendations for the prevention of shallow water blackout and hypoxic blackout across aquatic activities and locations. In swimming pools, the paper states: Swimming pool lifeguards should discourage distance swimming underwater or remaining underwater for an extended period and warn pool users about the dangers associated with extended breath-holding. In addition, the paper highlights recommendations for elite coaching, artistic swimming and open water.The research paper, titled ‘The physiology of survival: Breath-hold shallow-water diving’, was published in December 2025 and is available to read online here. Research paper author, Professor Andrew Baker, presented at the RLSS UK Technical Conference on 12 February 2026 alongside his daughter, Dr Serena Baker. Together, they shared their deeply personal story to educate the audience of over 380 people about the dangers of extended breath‑holding in water. Watch this space for more work with Professor Baker to raise awareness and prevent future occurrences. RLSS UK published guidance in April 2025 to support swimming pool operators in understanding the risks and managing extended breath-holding activities. The guidance can be found here. Read further RLSS UK Industry Guidance Manage Cookie Preferences