ABSTRACT
Lyme Bay was a central instance of culpability, but it is sadly not the only occasion of fatalities caused by negligence in the outdoors involving schools. In the decade since the Activity Centres (Young Persons Safety) Act 1995 there have been other fatalities, both within and outside the remit of the Act. It is instructive to look in detail at these instances, and then to make the comparison with voluntary organizations who are invariably operating outside the sphere of the licensing regime. The AALA have drawn up a useful skeletal summary of school fatalities, which has provided useful information in various legal cases and constructively assists the debate on best practice in safety management.1 It covered as best they could determine the period between May 1985 when four schoolchildren were washed away at Land’s End and November 2001 when a 4year-old autistic girl died after a swimming lesson in Blackpool. Three years later in September 2004 the AALA estimated that between May 1986 and July 2004 at least 51 children and five teachers had died on school trips in Britain and abroad.2 Each one of these cases is an agonizing tragedy for the families involved, and many of them speak eloquently of the need to learn lessons to safeguard future generations of children. Although each death has its unique circumstances it is possible to discern some common themes, and it is therefore very important to classify and analyse the sort of hazards that are faced on these school trips. As we have seen, most school activities are actually outside the remit of the AALA, in particular all school trips abroad. In addition, the voluntary organizations are generally also outside the licensing arrangements, so to assemble a complete picture of the pattern of fatalities and injuries in outdoor activities it is important to trawl well beyond the legislative parameters. In addition, all outdoor activities for those above 18 years of age are outside the Act, although again many helpful comparisons on hazards are possible. Fatalities with no blameworthy cause Inevitably, with so many children on school trips there will be tragic deaths that have nothing to do with the activity, but have to be ascribed to ‘natural causes’. This should often be more accurately described as a genetic defect or disease that had previously been undiagnosed. Fault clearly cannot be ascribed in these
1 ‘School Trip Fatal Accident Records Between May 1985 and November 2001’, Appendix 2
instances to schools or activity centres. For example, Charlotte Wright, aged 9 and from Sheerness, collapsed and died during activities on a trapeze at the PGL Centre at Marchant’s Hill in 2002. She had been climbing a tree to a small platform, and appeared to faint and fall while secured by a safety harness. With an ambulance summoned she was in hospital in 11 minutes, but sadly to no avail.3 Another death apparently from ‘natural causes’ occurred when James Todd, aged 12 and from Washington, was found dead lying on his dormitory bunk at an outdoor activities centre in Northumberland. An inquest was told that he was found to be suffering from cardiac dysrhythmia, which could have struck at any time, and his parents had ‘absolutely no inkling’ that he had this condition, particularly as he excelled at several sports.4 Such conditions are often extremely difficult for the medical profession to diagnose; Danielle Kennedy, aged six had a series of dizzy spells at school and at home and was seen by nine doctors, including five consultants, before she died of what a coroner described as a ‘a rare and undiagnosed cardiac dysrhythmia’ at Derbyshire Children’s Hospital in 1999.5 A campaigning group, Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), point out that there are a whole range of such conditions and believe that up to 400 children may be victims of undiagnosed heart disease each year. They have urged further medical research and screening by electrocardiogram testing in an attempt to define and combat the problem. It is estimated that up to four people under the age of 35 die each week from ‘sudden death syndrome’, with up to 10,000 unaware that they could be affected.6 A classic instance of controversy on whether death was due to ‘natural causes’ or negligence was that of Anna Loyley, a very fit woman aged 26 who collapsed after completing the Bath Half Marathon in 1998 just weeks before she was to be married. Her family sued the St John Ambulance Brigade for incompetent use of an automatic external defibrillator.7 The case was subsequently settled on the basis that this volunteer organization, launched in 1887 to provide volunteers trained in first aid to attend public events, accepted that ‘certain aspects of the resuscitation could have been dealt with better’, and the family used the undisclosed damages and other moneys to set up a trust fund for training in such techniques.8 Ms Loyley was the second person to die in two years at the Bath event, a very well-organized race, but an inquest discovered she had a previously undiagnosed heart condition called Long QT Syndrome. Dr Dan Tunstall Pedoe, the medical officer in charge of the London Marathon, estimates that sudden death worldwide in marathons and half marathons is one death per 100,000 runs,
3 ‘Girl, 8, dies climbing adventure centre tree; anguished grandparents tell of family’s heartbreak’, South Wales Evening Post (7 June 2002). 4 ‘We had no inkling of this cardiac problem. James was a very fit and active lad who lived life to the full’, Newcastle Journal (25 September 2002). 5 ‘Doctors ‘missed dying girl’s heart problem’’, The Times (1 August 2001). 6 ‘Sport can be a dangerous game’, Daily Telegraph (3 August 2000).
