Safety Requirements and Duty of Care
Amusement parks have a legal obligation to provide a duty of care to all people who enter their premises. All parks must abide by certain legislation. These legislations include:
- Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
- The Health and Safety at Work Act 2005
- Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2016
- Health and Safety Regulations 1996
- Work at Height Regulations 2005
In addition to this, all employees of the amusement park have a set of duties to ensure health and safety of park visitors. Some examples of these duties include:
- Designers, manufacturers and installers have a duty to ensure the attractions are safe, installed adequately and thoroughly tested.
- All attractions must be constantly maintained in a safe condition.
- Inspections of all attractions should be regularly carried out to maintain safety standards.
- Individuals with overall control of the premises must consider risk assessments, safe layout and emergency procedures.
Common Injuries
Injuries linked with amusement park accident claims include:
Causes
The most common causes of theme park accidents are:
- Defective or faulty attraction – for example, a fault on a roller coaster
- Slip, trip or fall – these can happen from either poorly maintained or uneven grounds or attractions.
- Food poisoning – this can occur due to poor kitchen hygiene standards
- Falling objects – this could happen if a piece of a ride falls off or barriers fall down on people causing injury..
Child Injury in a Theme Park
In cases where your child (aged under 18) has been injured in a theme park the rules for making an injury claim are slightly different. A minor cannot make a claim themselves for any injuries sustained until they turn 18. Therefore a parent or guardian can bring a claim forward on their behalf at any time before their 18th birthday.
If a claim has not been made in this time, once the child turns 18 they have two years to make the claim themselves.
It is always advisable to speak with a solicitor about a child injury claim.
What do I do if I'm involved in an amusement park accident?
Following an accident in an amusement park, there are a number of steps you should follow:
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Seek medical attention
Your health is your wealth and should be your first priority. Immediately after an accident, take a second to assess yourself to determine if you have any injuries. Then check if anybody else involved in the accident needs medical attention. If anybody has sustained a serious injury, ensure that you contact an ambulance to attend the scene.
You must remember that minor injuries where you ‘feel fine’ could progress to a more serious injury in the future. In this case, it is always better to be safe than sorry and advisable that you go to your nearest accident and emergency (A&E) or local GP to be checked out.
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Report the accident
It is important that you report the accident to management. You may be required to assist to fill in an accident form. This is to provide them details of how the accident occurred and details of the injury. You should also request that they preserve any CCTV footage.
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Identify any witnesses
Collect contact details of any witnesses to the accident – their names and contact information.
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Document the incident
It is important that you collect all the relevant information in connection with your accident:
- How the accident happened, time and date of the accident.
- Details of any witnesses to the accident (Including staff and other customers); their names, contact information.
- If there are any CCTV recordings of the accident.
- Take pictures from different angles of where the accident happened and what caused you to slip, trip or fall.
- Take pictures of any injuries you suffered, this will help your solicitor to understand how the accident happened.
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Speak to a personal injury solicitor
If you are considering moving forward with a claim for any personal injuries sustained, it is advisable that you speak with a public place accident claims solicitor as soon as possible. If you are proceeding with a claim, the first step will be submitting your claim to the Injuries Board for assessment. A solicitor can help you prepare your application to the Injuries Board and ensure that you follow the process in the correct format, meaning that you can move forward with your claim quickly without unnecessary delays.
It is important to remember to keep copies of any expenses that you have incurred as a result of the accident. It is also imperative to retain copies of medical reports or incident report forms where possible as you will need them when making a claim.