Lifeguards, flags and designated swim areas

Before you swim, ask three questions about who's watching and where you're meant to be. Are there lifeguards on duty? Is there a designated swim area? Is this a designated swim time? Together, they tell you how much help is close by if something goes wrong, and how much of the job falls to you.

Lifeguards: where, and when

RNLI lifeguards patrol more than 240 beaches across the UK and Channel Islands, and both the RNLI and RLSS UK recommend choosing a lifeguarded place to swim. The RNLI's reasoning: lifeguards can see danger developing, step in before accidents happen, and respond straight away if someone gets into difficulty.

Lifeguard cover isn't permanent, and the RNLI says a lifeguard off duty sign means there's currently no lifeguard service at that beach. A lifeguarded beach with nobody on duty gives you none of that cover, so check they'll be there when you swim.

Lifeguards also know their beach. The RNLI suggests asking local swimming groups and beach lifeguards about local conditions when you're somewhere new. And if you see someone in trouble on a lifeguarded beach, HM Coastguard's advice is to tell the lifeguard. For everywhere else, see who to call if it goes wrong.

Know your flags

On a lifeguarded beach, the flags tell you where to be. These are the RNLI's:

• Red and yellow flags. The lifeguarded area, and the safest place to swim and bodyboard. If you're swimming, stay between them.
• Black and white chequered flags. A zone for surfboards, stand-up paddleboards, kayaks and other non-powered craft, and a launch and recovery area for kitesurfers and windsurfers. Never swim or bodyboard here.
• Red flag. Dangerous conditions. The water is unsafe for swimming and other water activities, and nobody should go in.
• Orange windsock. Offshore or strong winds. Never use inflatables while it's flying.

The Met Office's beach safety advice describes the same four. Beaches also carry signs: the RNLI describes yellow triangle hazard signs, which warn you of a danger in the area, and red and white prohibition signs, which tell you an activity isn't allowed there for your safety. RLSS UK's advice is to read all the signage before you get in.

Designated swim areas

A designated swim area is a flagged, roped off or buoyed area set aside for swimming. On a lifeguarded beach that's the space between the red and yellow flags. At a managed lake or other venue, it might be a roped or buoyed area.

The point of a designated area is that everyone else knows you're there. Check for other users on the water too, such as boats, jet skis or paddleboards. On a lifeguarded beach, craft get their own zone between the black and white flags. Outside a marked area, making yourself visible is down to you: the RNLI recommends a brightly coloured swim hat and a tow float.

Designated swim times

The last question is about timing: is this a pre-approved time to swim here? It goes with permission. Has the owner consented to swimming, or have you booked a session at the venue?

At a pay-to-swim venue, the session you've booked is your designated time. Whatever safety cover a venue offers, ask when it's in place, and treat swimming outside those times as swimming on your own. If you're wondering why some reservoirs and quarries only allow swimming at set times, or not at all, reservoirs and quarries explains, and safe lake swimming covers the rest of the lake questions.

When there's none of the above

Away from lifeguards, flags and booked sessions, more of the job falls to you. The RNLI's advice for swimming where there's no lifeguard cover is to know where you can get in and out, what hazards are around, what the tide and currents are doing, how to spot a rip current and what to do if you're caught in one. Rip currents and safe sea swimming cover the coast in detail.

RLSS UK's Water Safety Code adds two more: go with someone, and tell someone where you're going and when you'll be back.

Wild's spot pages can help with the homework: today's conditions, tides at beaches, the official bathing-water rating where there is one, and reports from swimmers who've been there. Search for a spot to see what's around you.

All three questions are on the outdoor swimming safety checklist, alongside entry and exit points and phone signal.

Sources

1. RNLI, Beach flags and signs
2. RNLI, Beach safety
3. RNLI, Open water swimming
4. RNLI, Top tips: Open water swimming for beginners
5. Met Office, 10 beach safety tips
6. Royal Life Saving Society UK, The Water Safety Code
7. Royal Life Saving Society UK, Advice to enjoy being in, on and around water safely
8. HM Coastguard, In an emergency

This guide is general information, not a substitute for local knowledge or training. Conditions change: check them on the day, and if in doubt, don't go in. Images on the blog are illustrations, not pictures of specific spots.