Operator fined after girl thrown from funfair ride

Date:

13 May 2011

Release No:

WM428/11

A fairground operator has been sentenced after an 11-year-old girl suffered a serious head wound when she was thrown from a ride at a Birmingham park.

Birmingham Magistrates' Court heard the girl was in a car on a ride, called DJ Jump, at the fair at Pype Hayes Park when the lap bar failed. She was also unable to put on the secondary safety measure, a lap belt, that may have prevented her being thrown from the ride.

During the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution of fairground operator and owner of the DJ Jump ride, Robert Wilkinson, the court heard the girl was thrown from the moving car and suffered a five centimetre head wound that required ten stitches. She also sustained numerous cuts and bruises.

The HSE investigation into the incident on 19 April 2009 found the lap belts in the ride cars were poorly maintained and most had been so badly damaged they were unusable.

Mr Wilkinson, of Lime Lane, Pelsall, Walsall, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £2,708 costs.

HSE inspector Gareth Langston said:

"This was a preventable incident that resulted in a serious injury to a child who had been enjoying herself on a family day out.

"Fairground operators must make sure not only that the main system to keep passengers safely in the ride is properly serviced, but also that back-up can be used for long enough to stop the ride safely if the main system fails.

"Back-up safety systems, such as lap belts, must be maintained adequately at all times. Mr Wilkinson failed to do this.

"Free guidance on safe practice at fairgrounds and amusement parks is available from HSE. It's vital that all operators follow this carefully to ensure they don't put members of the public - often children - at risk."

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training, new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. 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 reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety."

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News & PR West Midlands