A government department was this week fined £8,000 after admitting two counts of health and safety breaches which led to a child breaking her leg.

A metal bench fell on the three-year-old while the 2019 Isle of Man Food and Drink Festival was being set up at the Villa Marina Gardens.

Switched On Entertainment Limited was also fined £3,000 after they pleaded guilty to one count of failing to comply with health and safety regulations.

The court heard that the Department of the Environment, Food and Agriculture had settled the compensation matter with the girl’s family in another court.

In our coverage of previous court appearances, we reported that the DEFA, which was represented by advocate Jim Travers, pleaded guilty to failing to prevent access to an area which was a hazard to the public, and failing to obtain a risk assessment from Switched On Entertainment Limited.

Switched On Entertainment Limited was represented in court by advocate David Keates. He had initially entered not guilty pleas on behalf of the company to two counts of breaching health and safety regulations, but then later pleaded guilty to one count of failing to comply with regulations, with the other being withdrawn.

The Villa is operated by the Department of Education, Sport and Culture (DESC) but the Isle of Man Food and Drink Festival is run and planned by the DEFA.

The festival was in its 11th year and was estimated to have attracted around 10,000 visitors.

The DEFA hired the Villa Marina between September 9 and 16 for the festival last year and produced a safety plan for the management of the event with a festival planning committee set up.

A number of contractors are employed, one being Switched On Entertainment, which erects marquees.

On September 10, a number of metal benches were used to anchor a marquee with some not being put back in their original location after use.

On September 11 at 7.15pm, a woman was walking through the Villa gardens with her three-year-old daughter and a friend.

At the south end of the gardens one of the metal benches, which was said to weigh just shy of 80kg, moved and fell over, coming to lie on top of the three-year-old.

The child was taken to hospital and found to have suffered a fractured femur.

Prosecuting advocate James Robinson said that it was unclear who had moved the bench but it had been moved to an unsafe position.

Mr Robinson said that the DEFA had failed to prevent access to the Villa gardens while the construction of the site was taking place.

It was also said that DEFA staff who had operational responsibility for the event had not received training in event management or general health and safety.

Switched On Entertainment Limited had completed a risk assessment for their area but it had not been obtained by the DEFA until after the accident had occurred.

The defence advocate for the DEFA, Mr Travers, said that one of the chief failings was that the department had not ensured the risk assessment was with them from the commencement of the work.

horrified

Mr Travers said that the DEFA had provided all the documents required since the incident and the department was ’horrified’ by the injury to the girl.

The advocate said that its remorse was perhaps demonstrated by the fact that it had settled the matter in civil court.

’The department has been keen to do the right thing by the family in all of this,’ said Mr Travers. ’We’re only learning the lessons afterwards as perhaps through a lack of communication, one party did not know what the other was doing.’

He added that the 2020 event had been held successfully with around 16,000 attending and no incidents.

Mr Keates said that Switched On Entertainment had not been approached to be involved in the civil case and had a good safety record.

He said: ’This was the 11th year and my client has been involved in the majority, if not all those years, without incident.’

High Bailiff Jayne Hughes fined the DEFA £4,000 for each of their two offences and Mr Travers asked for one month to pay.

They must also pay £50 prosecution costs.

Switched On Entertainment was ordered to pay £300 prosecution costs as well as a £3,000 fine and was given until March next year to pay.