Health and safety news
16/09/2009

Brain injury sledge death ruled to be accidental

The coroner investigating the death of a girl who suffered extensive brain injury in a sledging accident in February has asked for steps to be taken to ensure public safety at the country park where the incident took place.

The 16-year-old girl had been riding with four friends on the upturned roof of a Land Rover car when it careered into a wire fence. She was thrown from the sledge and sustained extensive head injuries. The other riders were also injured, at least one seriously.

The coroner made it clear at the inquest that the management of the park had to either close the slope to the public or, to make sure the fence – erected in 2006 to keep sheep from entering an area used for archery and removed after the accident – should not be replaced.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded.

A spokesperson for the Health and Safety Executive, who investigated the accident, said, "How the park was managed was not found to be at fault in the accident."

A statement issued regarding the brain injury accident, said the council was "saddened and shocked" by the young girl's death and that it would "respond appropriately" to proposals made by the coroner.