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May/June 2023 issue

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Catering and leisure
News

Alton Towers rollercoaster crash was ‘like 90 mph car accident’

Open-access content Monday 26th September 2016
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

Alton Towers operator Merlin Entertainments attended Stafford Crown Court today (26 September) for the sentencing hearing for the June 2015 accident. Prosecutor Bernard Thorogood told the court the kinetic energy involved in the crash was equivalent to a "family car of 1.5 tonnes having collided at about 90 mph".

Two people had their legs amputated and three others suffered life-changing injuries after two carriages collided on the 14-loop ride.

Merlin admitted breaching s 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act earlier this year and could be fined up to £10m under new sentencing guidelines for safety and health offences.

The court heard that an empty test carriage had been sent round the rollercoaster. It failed to clear one of the loops and stopped in a valley of track, unseen by staff. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found strong winds could have been the reason the empty carriage failed to complete the loop.

The rollercoaster's computer system halted the ride but engineers manually overrode it. They "distrusted" the ride's fault signal, believing it to be an error, and sent a full car along the track and into the path of the empty carriage.

The regulator concluded that the Smiler ride had been well designed with a complex control system and the operator followed safe working practices.

Merlin, however, was said to have fallen "far short" of controlling the need for engineers to fix faults and there was "no evidence of a task analysis-based approach for engineering work, in particular in dealing with ride faults".

In mitigation for Alton Towers, barrister Simon Antrobus said: "[The company] accepts its responsibility that this should never have happened and accepted that the accident was attributable to failures that, while they were never intended, would have been avoidable with greater care."

"It's a good organisation that made a serious failure, but is one that is of otherwise good character."

Since the crash, Alton Towers has made 30 changes to improve the safety of the Smiler ride.

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Network Rail

 Network Rail fined £4m for death at dangerous level crossing

Monday 26th September 2016
The Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR) investigation found Network Rail, which owns most of the rail network in England, Scotland and Wales, had failed to act on substantial evidence that pedestrians had poor visibility of trains when approaching Gipsy Lane footpath crossing, and were exposed to an increased risk of being struck by a train. Olive McFarland was hit by a train travelling almost 100 mph from London to Norwich on 24 August 2011.
Open-access content

 Ejector seat maker faces prosecution over death of Red Arrows pilot

Tuesday 27th September 2016
Flt Lt Sean Cunningham, 35, was carrying out pre-flight checks of his Hawk TMk1 XX177 jet while stationary on the Royal Air Force Scampton airbase in Lincolnshire. But the ejector seat accidentally fired, sending the pilot into the air. The parachute did not deploy and he fell to the ground still in his seat. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has told Martin Baker Aircraft that it will be prosecuted over the incident on 8 November 2011.
Open-access content
©iStock/PeskyMonkey

 Crown censure for MoD over death of 21-year-old soldier

Friday 30th September 2016
Fusilier Dean Griffiths, 21, died from a gunshot wound in the neck during a live training exercise at Lydd Ranges military firing range in Kent on 14 September 2011. The exercise required troops to enter a compound that had been designed to simulate the type of building they would encounter in Afghanistan. They were divided into two groups: an assault group to enter and secure the site, and a fire support group to provide cover.
Open-access content
Image credit: ©iStock/Emrah Turudu

 Parker Hannifin fined £1m for unplanned machine move

Wednesday 21st September 2016
Colin Reddish, 48, was working alone on 30 April 2015 at Parker Hannifin Manufacturing’s factory in Grantham, Lincolnshire, moving a large computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling machine. The machine had been placed on skates so that Reddish could use an angle grinder to cut and remove the bolts that had fixed it to the floor. As he was doing this, the machine toppled and killed him.
Open-access content
©Ed Webster - www.flickr.com/photos/ed_webster/

 Refiner ignored fatality-in-waiting warning

Thursday 15th September 2016
David Thomas was using the walkway to access an oil tanker on 5 March 2012 when it suddenly gave way. He fell 3.5 m over the side and his legs became tangled in loose cables. He sustained fractures to both legs and a dislocated knee. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told Swansea Crown Court that Valero had not carried out a sufficient risk assessment for the use of the access tower, with the result that the dangers of slack cables were not identified.
Open-access content

 Last body recovered from Didcot site

Monday 12th September 2016
The body of John Shaw from Rotherham was found underneath rubble on Friday and emergency services formed a guard of honour while it was removed from the site.“A joint Thames Valley Police and Health and Safety Executive investigation is ongoing to establish the circumstances of his death,” Thames Valley Police said in a statement.
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