Water Resistant SPF is published by Northbank Media. It covers one subject: sweat, heat and sun protection during land-based exercise and outdoor work. It exists because almost every answer to a question about sun protection in sport turns out to have been written for a swimming pool.
Our subject is the land-based case. Sweat rather than immersion, friction from kit rather than a towel, and duration in the open rather than a bounded session in the water. We map what each sport presents to the sun and what actually holds there.
We do not cover the laboratory test methodology behind water resistance claims on products. That subject is covered thoroughly elsewhere and we have nothing to add to it. We also do not cover swimming, open water or pool duty of care.
We do not give clinical advice of any kind. We do not assess skin, describe what a mark means, diagnose anything or offer treatment. Where a question crosses that line, we say so and point at the NHS, a GP, or 999 where it is genuinely urgent.
Stated plainly, because it should be.
| Source | How it works | What it cannot buy |
|---|---|---|
| The register | A paid listing for coaches, clubs, outdoor employers' safety consultants and occupational health providers. Alphabetical, labelled paid, with a published fee. | A position, a ranking, an endorsement, a mention in an article, or any influence over guidance. |
| Newsletter sponsorship | One clearly labelled sponsor line per issue, at a published rate. | Any influence over editorial content in the same issue or anywhere else. |
That is the entire list. We take no affiliate revenue, we run no display advertising, we accept no paid links, we do not participate in any advertising network, and we recommend no products. There is nothing on this site that earns a commission if you buy something, because we never tell you to buy anything.
Two reasons. The first is that the entire argument of this publication is that the product is the last control rather than the first, and a site that ranked products would be contradicting its own guidance on every page. The second is that a ranking implies an assessment, and we have not assessed any product, any coach, any employer or any provider. Publishing a list that implied otherwise would misrepresent what we have done.
Where a criteria guide is more useful than a list, we publish the criteria instead. That is what the articles on clothing, headwear and eyewear do.
The publication is written and edited by Northbank Media's editorial team. Our sources are named on every article and are institutional: the Health and Safety Executive, the NHS, NICE, the British Association of Dermatologists, Cancer Research UK, the Met Office, the World Health Organization and IOSH, along with the legislation itself where the subject is occupational duty.
The voice we aim for is a coach who has read the occupational health guidance. Practical, physiological and matter of fact. We do not moralise about anybody's training and we are not interested in frightening anyone.
If something here is wrong, we want to know and we will fix it and say that we have. The contact page has the route. Our full position on sourcing, corrections and what we will and will not publish is on the editorial standards page.
One email a month on exposure, heat and sun protection for people who train outdoors and people who work outdoors. No product recommendations, because we do not make any. Each issue carries a single clearly labelled sponsor line that has no influence on anything above it.
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