MP supports demands clarity on adventure holiday safety
Alison Seabeck MP for Plymouth Moor View, is supporting Kate Green, MP for Stretford & Urmston, call for an independent register of adventure holiday providers in parliament after a teenager was killed while on taking part in a conservation project in Fiji.
Alison said, the incident which has prompted a further attempt to improve the protection for young people on adventure holidays or trips is welcome.
The Lyme Bay canoeing tragedy in 1993 tragically raised this issue and legislation was introduced by the former MP, David Jamieson. However there have been suggestions that this government were considering loosening the regulations. A further tragedy has only served to highlight the need for clear and strong regulation in this field and so I welcome the intentions behind the Bill being brought forward.”
In parliament on Tuesday, Kate will present proposals for a Bill calling for an independent register of accredited providers of adventure activity expeditions. This would mean that parents could be clear if an organisation’s claims to meet health and safety standards are self-declared or from an independent evaluation.
It was the death of Luke Molnar, aged 17, from Stretford, who received a massive electric shock after touching a metal washing line that had come into contact with a live cable while volunteering with the British firm, Coral Cay Conservation, in 2006 which prompted a further look at the protections given.
The 2011 inquest following Luke’s death found that a local electrician had wired the washing line to the electricity supply in order to run power to a number of huts that were being used as accommodation for the volunteers.
The electrician was later convicted of manslaughter, but no proceedings have been taken against Coral Cay or its then directors. The company is now under new management.
At Luke’s inquest, Stockport Coroner, John Pollard, identified significant shortcomings in Coral Cay’s health and safety procedures, and highlighted the discrepancy between the claims made in documents and on its website with regard to the emphasis that it placed on health and safety and its actual practice.
Mr Pollard criticised Coral Cay’s safety arrangements as “weak, ineffectual and of very little use.”
Kate said: “Mr and Mrs Molnar placed great credence on claims made by the then management of Coral Cay about its approach to health and safety – that full and careful health and safety checks were carried out, that personnel on site were fully trained, and that there would be a full risk assessment of the site. None of this in practice turned out to be the case.
“Parents cannot rely on claims made by adventure companies that they have been objectively assessed to comply with rigorous safety standards, particularly when these companies are operating overseas. Anyone can set up such a company, and there is no requirement to undergo an independent inspection process.
“A register would provide a database of organisations that have been independently assessed and accredited to give parents peace of mind that that claims made by companies are followed up in practice.”
Gill and Steve Molnar said, “It was a big decision to send Luke on the trip, but we did everything we could to check out the safety arrangements.
“There are thousands of families whose children go on these trips and we do not want anybody else to go through what we have gone through.
“We feel that a register of the adventure companies which have been independently assessed to comply with health and safety standards would be a step in the right direction towards making these trips safer and stopping further avoidable tragedies happening again.”
