Dear Mr Bradshaw MP
I call upon my MP to write to the appropriate Secretary
of State and call for a public inquiry into the Health and Safety Executive and the conduct of their
officials.
As you are aware the HSE informed me recently that they
can’t investigate my allegations ref Health & Safety violations at the Haven Bank
Climbing Centre in Exeter because it is a Leisure Centre and does not come
under their remit.
At best, such statements are hogwash and at worst they
are designed to obstruct justice.
No person applying a right and proper mind would say leisure centres do not come under the HSE remit.
Please see the following HSE report into Leisure Centre
deaths.
With thanks
Yours sincerely
Alan M Dransfield
PS
No wonder they imposed a lifetime email ban against me.
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“Centre operator sentenced after child drowning
Date:18 July 2013
The operator of an Essex leisure centre has been ordered
to pay more than £190,000 in fines and costs after a seven year-old girl
drowned in a swimming pool.
Michelle Gellard, from East London, died after she went
swimming with a number of other children at the Blackwater Leisure Centre in
Maldon on 14 June 2008 after attending a judo competition.
Bedfordshire-based Leisure Connection Ltd, which operates
the pool, was prosecuted today (18 July) by the Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) after an investigation into the death identified serious failings with
lifeguard cover.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard there were two lifeguards on
poolside duty on the day, increasing to three lifeguards when members of the
public found Michelle at the bottom of the pool’s deep end.
One of the lifeguards retrieved Michelle from the water
with the assistance of another swimmer. Sadly, despite resuscitation attempts,
she was later pronounced dead at Colchester General Hospital.
The HSE investigation concluded that Leisure Connection
Ltd failed over a period of time to ensure that sufficient, suitably positioned
lifeguards were always on poolside duty to ensure the safety of pool users.
The court was told the company had failed to identify
that this leisure centre was not compliant with its own procedures, and that
the procedures in place at the site were inadequate.
Leisure Connection Ltd, of Potton House, Wyboston Lakes,
Great North Road, Wyboston, Bedfordshire, was fined £90,000 with costs of
£101,663 after admitting breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at
Work etc Act 1974.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Antonina Drury said:
“This tragic and untimely death should never have
happened.
“Members of the public visiting leisure centre
swimming pools have an entitlement to expect that the operator paid to run them
will deploy and train its staff so as to provide sufficient numbers of life
guards in the right places so as to operate the pool safely.
“In this case, Michelle Gellard was robbed of her
chances of rescue and survival by Leisure Connection’s failures.
“Evidence emerged in the course on the investigation
that Leisure Connection failed to identify and address the fact that the amount
of life guarding it was paying its staff to provide at Blackwater Leisure
Centre was noticeably less than the amount it knew was required for full and
safe operation of the pool.”
For further information about safety in leisure activities,
visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/entertainment/leisure/index.htm.”
