A watersports club contracted a consultancy to help it set up safety management systems, despite the company having no experience of assisting water-ski parks in managing the risks from their activities, a report into the death of a child in a banana-boat incident has found.

Eleven-year-old Mari-Simon Cronje died on 11 September last year from severe leg and perineal injuries after she fell off a banana boat into a lake and came into contact with the propeller of the ski boat that was towing the inflatable.
The driver of the ski boat was not aware that she had fallen into the water, and did not see her as he continued on a tight circular route.

An independent investigation report, issued last week by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), concluded that the incident at Princes Club, Middlesex, was, in part, a direct result of the organisation’s flawed process for completing risk assessments, as well as the failure of the specific banana-boat risk assessment to identify the hazard of a fallen rider not being spotted by the driver.

The lack of external oversight of towed inflatable rides meant that Princes Club’s safety procedures went unchecked. Nevertheless, investigators also heavily criticised the club over the implementation of its safety management system, which they described as “flawed at every level”.

 Although the club had contracted MHL Support Ltd in 2008 to establish health and safety management procedures, the consultancy “had no prior experience of assisting water-ski parks and had no record of taking specialist advice on the subject before, or during the contract”.

MHL’s initial survey of 31 May 2008 made 14 safety observations, but none of these related to the core activities on the site – namely, water skiing, cable skiing, or rides on the banana boat.

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