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AT RISK
‘At Risk’ is a regular feature which highlights
recent news stories about some of the
accidents and injuries that occur in the sport
and leisure world.
FINE FOR CHESSINGTON WORLD OF
ADVENTURES OVER CHILD’S SEVERE INJURIES
In January, Chessington World of Adventures was sentenced for safety
failings that led to a four-year-old girl suffering life-changing head
injuries when she fell from a raised walkway while queuing for a ride.
The youngster, from Kent, fell nearly four metres while waiting in line
for the Tomb Blaster ride with her family at the theme park in Surrey
on 7 June 2012. She suffered a fractured skull, bleeding to the brain
and broken ribs and was in hospital for a month.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated and prosecuted
Chessington World of Adventures Operations Ltd after finding the girl
had fallen through a gap in a wooden fence.
A hearing at Guildford Crown Court (9 Jan) heard HSE had identified
that a rotting paling in the fence had fallen out on the morning of the
incident, having been dislodged, and that the whole fence showed
evidence of serious weakening.
However, despite the fact that the theme park attracts tens of
thousands of visitors a year, HSE said that Chessington did not have
either an adequate system of checking and inspecting the fencing or
a maintenance process to ensure faults were identified and rectified.
HSE told the court that an adequate maintenance regime and
reporting system would have captured details of regular repairs and
identified problems and trends. But without these, management were
unable to see any pattern developing and address it properly.
Chessington World of Adventures Operations Ltd., was fined £150,000
and ordered to pay £21,614 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching
the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
After the sentencing, investigating HSE inspector Karen Morris said:
“Quite simply, Chessington had insufficient measures in place to
prevent or control the risk of falling from the raised walkway in the
first place – and this was not just a couple of feet from the ground but
nearly four metres.
“This incident shows the importance of implementing robust systems
for checking and maintaining all aspects of rides, and this includes
the walkways and fencing associated with queuing and where people
gather.”
CYCLIST AWARDED
$1.6M AFTER BEING
HIT BY ANOTHER
CYCLIST THEN
STRUCK BY CAR
A Canberra cyclist has been awarded
A$1.6 million af ter being knocked
from his bike by a fellow cyclist then
run over by a car. The man was
lef t with painful injuries including a
broken pelvis and a broken bone in
his spine, as well as internal bleeding.
The accident happened on Capital
Circle in Canberra’s centre in June
2009 as the man travelled home from
work with the second cyclist. The
other man said he hit a piece of
wood that threw his bike of f balance,
hitting the victim and knocking him
onto the road.
The injured man had been a keen
triathlete and had a successful career
working on IT contracts. Following
the accident his capacity for work
was reduced to about 25 hours a
week and he no longer competed in
triathlons.
The victim claimed the other cyclist
was liable as he had not kept a proper
lookout or seen the wood.
Just ice John Burns found the
defendant liable for the accident.
“I am satisf ied that the defendant
breached his duty of care to the
plaintif f, and that the plaintif f ’s
injuries as a consequence of falling
from his bike and being struck by a
car directly f low from the defendant ’s
negligence,” he said.
The compensation included general
damages, and loss of earnings and
superannuation.
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ISSUE 20 | MARCH 2015