- Although water bodies start to freeze at below-zero temperatures, ice formed after the first frosts is thin and does not support the weight of a human. Moreover, in spring, after a period of sunny or rainy weather, the strong layer of ice previously covering the water body could quickly get thin.
- It is safer to go out on ice after the weather has been frosty for a couple of weeks, when the temperature has stayed continuously below 0°C, and when there are signs that the ice layer is strong enough (e.g. the ice surface feels solid under your foot).
- Normally, ice is weaker in sections of river with rapid flow, around inlets and pipe spouts, around springs, boat landing pillars, reed beds, around crowns of trees fallen into water, and near waterways.
- Staying in water with the temperature of 2–3 degrees is life-threatening after as little as 15 minutes, and if water temperature is lower – after a couple of minutes even. Therefore the speed with which the victim is rescued from an ice-hole and warmed up is crucial.
- When you go out on a transboundary water body, always find out any restrictions applying to that water body (e.g. the course of the state border, the border regime area). Always register your stay on a transboundary water body in the nearest border guard station, and always keep at hand your identity documents, and the documents of your watercraft.