Common Accidents During Summertime & The Duties Of Care That You’re Owed

Summer is always an exciting time for everyone. The sun comes out and everybody gets ready to do fun activities outside that they weren’t able to do in the winter months, such as going to theme parks, taking their kids to the park and going to the lido.

However, there is always an element of risk associated with these activities. Therefore, it is important to know the duties you are owed from these establishments in the event of an accident.

Theme parks

For those adrenaline junkies out there, it is important to be aware of the common risks/ accidents that occur in theme parks, water parks or amusements parks and the duty of care that they owe you as a lawful visitor to the park.

Common Risks/Accidents

• Mechanical failure on rides, resulting in injury
• Electrical issues on rides, resulting in injury
• Lack of proper instructions from the ride operators, resulting in injury
• Defective rides, resulting in injury
• Lack of adequate safety equipment on rides, resulting in injury
• Risk of drowning on water slides/rides, resulting in injury

Duty of Care Owed

Owners/operators must ensure that the park/venue is safe for all visitors/staff and that visitors/staff are fee from risk of reasonably foreseeable injury or harm.

These are some of the ways in which they must ensure they are fulfilling their duty of care to their visitors and staff:

• Making sure all rides are in good working order and have been risk-assessed
• Ensuring rides have correct safety equipment for their use, e.g. bars to stop people falling out of the rides, helmets if needed, straps so people don’t fall out of the ride
• Correct warning signs in the venues/on the rides, e.g. warning signs for areas where it is not safe for children to go
• Gates and fences to ensure that people don’t cross the paths of the rides

Parks

Young children thoroughly enjoy going to the park, especially during the summer holidays with their friends. It is important to be aware of the potential safety risks when your children are using the equipment in parks and the duty of care that the Council owe you as a lawful visitor to the park.

Common Risks/Accidents

• Broken equipment resulting in injury, e.g. broken swing, broken seesaw
• Poor equipment design resulting in injury
• Children tripping due to uneven walking surfaces, as a result of defects or potholes in the ground

Duty of Care Owed

The Council must ensure that the park is safe for all visitors and that visitors are fee from risk of reasonably foreseeable injury or harm.

These are some of the ways in which they must ensure they are fulfilling their duty of care to their visitors:

• Making sure all equipment is in good working order and have been risk-assessed
• Ensuring the equipment has all the correct safety measures for their use, e.g. making sure that equipment with high platforms have guardrails/barriers to prevent children from falling from height
• Ensuring that rubber surfaces are under the equipment to prevent risk of serious injury, e.g. a child hitting their head on rubber will result in less injury than hitting their head on hard tarmac
• Putting correct safety/warning signs on equipment, e.g. warning signs for equipment that children under 5 years of age should not use

Lidos

It is always fun having a nice, relaxing dip at the Lido in summer, especially with friends and family. However, it is vital to have knowledge of the potential hazards presented around a swimming pool and the duty of care that the owners of the Lido owe you as a lawful visitor to their establishment.

Common Risks/Accidents

• Slipping hazards around the swimming pool, causing injury
• Diving in the shallow end of the pool, causing injury
• Injuries resulting from poor supervision of lifeguards
• Drowning in the pool
• Diving board accidents, causing injury

Duty of Care Owed

The owners of the Lido must ensure that the swimming pool is safe for all visitors and that visitors are fee from risk of reasonably foreseeable injury or harm.

These are some of the ways in which they must ensure they are fulfilling their duty of care to their visitors:

• Making sure all equipment, such as diving boards or pool floats, are in good working order and have been risk-assessed
• Ensuring there is a lifeguard by the pool at all times in case of an accident
• Ensuring there is adequate depth markers in the pool
• Ensuring the equipment has all the correct safety measures for their use
• Putting correct safety/warning signs around the pool, e.g. “this side of the pool is too deep”, “this is shallow water”, “don’t run on the side of the pool”, “no diving in the shallow end”, “don’t play around the pool drains”

Have fun and stay safe this summer!

If you, your family or friends suffer an injury as a result of a breach of duty of care, we have a very experienced Personal Injury Team who can help you. Please call us on 0330 822 3451 to make an enquiry.