HSE inspector found in contempt of court
The trial of Parkware followed the
death in July 2007 of an employee of the company, who had tried to
activate a stalled rollercoaster car at the start of the ride. When the
ride commenced, he failed to let go of the back of the car and was
thrown off, sustaining fatal injuries.
SHP learnt that after
Martin Smith, who worked as a ride operator at the theme park at the
time of the incident, had given evidence for the defence, he was
approached in the common area outside the court room by Diamond, who
had been sitting with the deceased’s family in the public gallery. She
asked him what his degree was in, and when he replied accountancy she
told him it could have been in drama after his "performance".
Then,
while another defence witness was giving evidence, Sheriff Elizabeth
McFarlane noticed the inspector pulling faces and shaking her head in
the public gallery, although the Sheriff decided not to bring her
behaviour to the court’s attention at this point.
On 9 October,
Susan Duff, who was representing Parkware, made a motion to the court
to have Diamond excluded because of the incident with Smith. Sheriff
McFarlane agreed and told Diamond that she was considering whether her
actions were in contempt. The trial ended on 10 October, with Parkware
found not guilty of a contravention of section 2 of the Health and
Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974, at which point Diamond was recalled to
answer a charge of contempt of court, which she accepted.
In addition to her sentence, the HSE has taken further action against Diamond but has not dismissed her.
A
spokesperson for the Executive told SHP: “This is a matter of great
regret to both the inspector and the HSE. We accept and understand the
decision of the court, and HSE has taken its own disciplinary action
against the individual, in addition to the sentence imposed by the
court. We expect the highest standards of conduct from all our
employees and regret what happened in this case.”
The HSE also confirmed that it intends to write to its field staff to “remind them about court etiquette”.