News Item: Fairground Ride Inspector Fined for Issuing Safety Certificate Without Crucial Report

A fairground ride inspector has been fined after he issued a safety certificate for a roller-coaster without ensuring he had a crucial safety report for the ride, which subsequently derailed.

Hamilton Sheriff Court heard that, Craig Boswell, a ride inspector trading as Amusement Inspection Services, issued a Declaration of Compliance (DoC) for the Tsunami roller-coaster, operated by M & D (Leisure) Limited at Scotland’s Theme Park, Strathclyde Country Park. This indicated the Tsunami was safe to operate. However, soon after a train on the roller-coaster with nine passengers derailed and crashed to the ground, causing serious injuries to those on board.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Mr Boswell had failed to obtain a suitable report of the non-destructive testing (NDT) that demonstrated that the safety critical parts of the ride had been thoroughly examined while the ride was properly disassembled. Despite this, Mr Boswell issued a Declaration of Compliance which allowed the ride to be operated in an unsafe condition.

Craig Boswell of Uddingston, Glasgow pleaded guilty to Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was served a Community Payback Order of 160 hours unpaid work, to be carried out over the next 12 months.