According to the BSS, 2007 has already seen around 30 fires on inland waterway craft, resulting in three deaths. The latest – a boat fire at Stone on the Trent & Mersey Canal on 20 August - resulted in the death of a 50-year old residential boater.

He was employed in the boat industry as a crew member of a trip boat operating on the lake at nearby Trentham Gardens.

The BSS smoke alarm initiative is intended to help navigation authorities reduce the severity of the consequences of boat fires in future. Further guidance is available on www.boatsafetyscheme.com/site/FirePortal_216.asp and a leaflet in support of the BSS recommendation is in production.

On north west waterways British Waterways (BW) has expressed concern about a number of incidents where lack of care and observance of instructions by boat crews has resulted in damage to boats and lock structures – with crew members sometimes being placed in danger.

There have also been several other reported near misses, particularly of boat rudders getting caught or scraping on cills. Other cases of damage to lock gates by boaters, which have not been reported to BW, have caused problems for fellow waterway users.

Helen Cooper, health & safety adviser, BW North West said: ‘Boating on canals is a real pleasure and most of the time there’s no safer way to travel. However, in the last few months we have had an unusually high number of incidents, with boaters being injured and our structures being damaged.’