Stallard Kane News

Saturday, 09 October 2010 10:09

PUBLIC SAFETY - OCTOBER 2010

Doing enough to protect the public A recent decision from the Court of Appeal proves that employers and landowners can avoid being held accountable following an accident. Based on this case, what can you do to follow suit?

What happened?

The original case saw Haven Holidays (H) held liable for the death of a two-year-old boy. The child, who’d become separated from his parents, had walked along a path and climbed over a small fence to gain access to a pond. Tragically, he drowned.

Case decision

At Wrexham County Court, the judge found H liable for the accident. He felt that it should have given a clearer warning to guests about the location of ponds and other water hazards on site. However, H felt that it had done enough to manage the risks and appealed.

Overturned

The Court of Appeal overturned the ruling Here, the judges felt that H had taken appropriate steps to warn its guests of the risks – including the ones associated with open water. The court found that neither the parents, nor H were responsible for the accident.

What convinced the court?

In the year prior to this accident, there was a similar incident on one of H’s sites. Fortunately, on this occasion the child was rescued. But, rather than ignoring the situation, H investigated and then set about preventing a similar occurrence in the future.

Note. This case shows the worth of investigating both near-miss events and accidents. H won its appeal only because it could prove that it had taken the first incident very seriously, and put in place whatever steps were necessary to prevent a similar occurrence. If it hadn’t acted in this way, there’s no question that the conviction would have stood.

What actions were taken?

Following the first incident, a team of Managers sat down to formally review its current health and safety arrangements. This exercise identified that, in certain areas, there was room for improvement. These issues were logged and an action plan to deal with them agreed.

What actions? The first task was to implement an open water policy for its 53 sites. This document spelt out what the risks were and how it intended to reduce them. Then, in accordance with the policy, H took action in several areas, including improving fencing and warning signs around areas of open water. It also made sure that information given to its customers on a site plan was very clear. In particular, it was made apparent where the areas of open water were.

Tip 1. If you allow visitors on to your site, you must make them aware of any significant risks. You can’t assume that they’ll recognise them for themselves. To achieve this, you can use signs, briefings, provide site guides or run through a formal induction to your premises.

Tip 2. Wherever possible look to benchmark your control measures against industry standards or those recommended by the HSE. In this case, in the absence of official guidance, H used information published by the Royal Society for the prevention of Accidents. It also sought the advice of an inspector to check that its proposed actions were suitable and sufficient.

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