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RISK ASSESSMENTS IN BRIEF

EDI
FUNFAIR MANAGER ‘Jam tomorrow’

JAILED AFTER INFLATABLE promise lands
retailer in court
EXPLODES, KILLING GIRL, 3 Halfords Autocentres Ltd has been

ordered to review its equality,
diversity and inclusion (EDI)
training after it failed to implement
The owner of an infl atable design, verification that the item has

reasonable adjustments identified in
trampoline that killed a three- been manufactured in accordance three separate risk assessments.
year-old girl when it burst, with the design, and a detailed test by
throwing the toddler 12 metres in a suitable expert on the item’s arrival FAILURE TO FOLLOW PROCEDURE
the air, has been jailed for a year. in the UK,’ said the GB Health and A tribunal ruled that the motoring
The funfair’s operations Safety Executive, which brought the retailer discriminated against MOT
manager Curt Johnson, 52, was prosecution with Great Yarmouth tester Paul Withers’ disability. It was
also disqualified as a director for Borough Council. None of that work told Paul was continuously in the

invidious position of being

five years and his company fi ned was carried out.
offered ‘jam tomorrow’ in

£20,000 after Ava-May Littleboy In operational terms, there
that he was repeatedly
was thrown ‘the height of a house’ was no proper risk assessment or
assured that the

when the inflatable trampoline work procedure laid down, and the
reasonable adjustments
she was on exploded in July company used undertrained staff
would be put into place but
2018 on Gorleston-on-Sea beach who were paid cash in hand. Some always left disappointed.
in Norfolk, UK. of them were too young to work Defending the claim,
Chelmsford Magistrates’ without child work permits, which Halfords argued it was ‘a
Court was told that Johnson had were not sought and would not have supportive and considerate
arranged the bespoke manufacture been granted. employer that correctly followed
of the trampoline – a sealed The trampoline at the Bounce its own procedures in relation to
absence and disciplinary matters;
unit that had no safety valve to About attraction had been inspected

identified reasonable adjustments
release pressure – from a Chinese just four days before Ava-May’s
to support the claimant of its own
manufacturer the year before. death and was found to be unsafe
volition and applied them as far
to use. However, no record of this
as was practicable; and that any
Design fl aws was made, no action was taken to
perception of discrimination on the
‘An importer of such an item [of] stop the inflatable being used, and part of the claimant was founded on

equipment must ensure that there it was not registered with an offi cial misconceptions held by him’.
has been a proper review of the testing scheme.
REASONABLE ADJUSTMENTS
In court The tribunal panel rejected Paul’s
Judge Christopher Williams claims of harassment, victimisation
described Johnson as ‘wilfully blind and discriminatory dismissal,
but found that his claims for
to the risk’ and that the infl atable
discrimination arising from disability
‘should not have been in use’.
and failure to make reasonable
Johnson and Johnsons Funfair
adjustments were both well founded
Ltd, as importer and site operator,
and therefore succeeded.
pleaded guilty to breaching sections
ioshmagazine.com/
6(1A)(a) and 3(1) of the Health and
halfords-withers
Safety at Work Act.
IOSH MAGAZINE 15
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