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Warning to aerial cableway operators after prosecution

Date:

10 November 2008

Release No:

SCO/173/08

The Health and Safety Executive today warned operators of aerial cableways they must ensure they have robust safety systems in place.

The call, to those who work cableways such as gondola cars or chairlifts, follows an incident in the Scottish Highlands, which seriously injured five people - Theresa Murphy, Craig Harris, Caitlin Harris, Jelle Koen and Daniel Koen-Ashley

At Fort William Sheriff Court today, Nevis Range Development Co plc and an employee were fined a total of £3,000, when they pleaded guilty to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Nevis Range Development Co pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.  They were fined £2,000

Gondola Operator Kevin Byrne, an employee of the company, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 7 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.  He was fined £1,000.

The accident happened on 13 July 2006 when a gondola cable car on the Nevis Range Gondola came off the haul / suspension rope and collided with the car in front before falling 30 feet to the ground.

The forward car then tilted towards the ground, ejecting one passenger, and causing the other to jump to the ground.

At the conclusion of the trial, HSE Inspector Douglas Conner commented that this was a complex investigation for HSE.

He said: "This was a serious incident which could easily have had fatal consequences.  As it was, five people including one child were injured, due to the failure of the company and their employee to ensure that strict health and safety rules were being followed.

"Notwithstanding the individual operator failings, the procedures provided by the company  to gondola operators following an emergency stop of the gondola induced by a 'grip gauge fault' were lacking.

"Good communication must be assured at critical times such as in emergency stop situations and this communication must be reliable and effective, in this instance it was lacking.

"Latent failures in organisations such as poor communication and people's uncertainties about their roles or responsibilities can pose the same, or even greater potential danger to health and safety as active failures.

"In an operation like this, it is vital that aerial uplift operators have robust operating systems in place and that these are regularly reviewed."

Notes to news editors

1. Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states:
   
   "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety".
2. Section 7 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states:
   
   "It shall be the duty of every employee while at work to take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and of other persons who may be affected by his acts or omissions at work."
3. Nevis Range is one of the premier tourist attractions in the Scottish Highlands. It was constructed on the northern slopes of Aonach Mor in 1989.  The main attraction is the mountain gondola system, which transports passengers 2,150 ft up the mountain - it is a year-round facility, used by skiers in the winter and sightseers / tourists in the summer.
4. The gondola system was manufactured and installed by Austrian company Doppelmayr in 1989. It is made up of approximately 80 six-seater closed cabins running on a continuous 4.6km steel cable weighing 40 tonnes.  The system spans 2.3 km of the northern slopes of Aonach Mor from the bottom station at 300 ft to the top station at 2,150 ft. The carrying capacity of the system is approximately 1,500 people per hour - the journey takes between 12-15 minutes each way.
5. Active failures have an immediate consequence and are usually made by front-line people such as drivers, control room staff or machine operators. In a situation where there is no room for error these active failures have an immediate impact on health and safety.
6. Latent failures are made by people whose tasks are removed in time and space from operational activities, eg designers, decision makers and managers. Latent failures are typically failures in health and safety management systems ( design, implementation or monitoring ). Examples of latent failures are:
   • Ineffective training;
   • Inadequate supervision;
   • Ineffective communications;
   • Uncertainties in roles and responsibilities.Media enquiries

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Issued on behalf of HSE by COI News and PR Scotland

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