Five mistakes which led to the death of Evha Jannath at Drayton Manor theme park

The former operators of Drayton Manor theme park have been fined £1 million today after 11-year-old Evha Jannath fell off a boat and into the water on the Splash Canyon ride in 2017.

The judge who delivered the sentence said, "this was an utterly tragic waste of a young life."

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought a prosecution against the park for not properly ensuring the safety of guests, said the accident "should never have happened", and that Drayton Manor's operators "failed to take the action that could have prevented Evha's death".

Drayton Manor had admitted breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Here are five mistakes which were highlighted during the court case.

1. Lessons not learned

The judge said there was a "failure to make appropriate changes following prior incidents of passengers falling into the water."

The court heard there had been 14 incidents of people going into the water.

A 10-year-old boy had previously fallen in, and was not noticed by ride staff. He was rescued by a member of the public.

2. Inadequate signsThe judge said: "There was a well-recognised risk that passengers would ignore the signs telling them to remain seated and would stand or move about within the ride."

The HSE found that the signs telling people to stay seated were "inadequate or faded."

3. Poor enforcement of rules

The judge said it was significant and surprising that people going on the ride were not told by staff to stay seated.

Analysis found that people standing up on the ride was "relatively frequent" and that on "9% to 16%" of journeys, there was passenger "misbehaviour."

On the day of the accident, there were 70 occasions when people stood up in the boats.

And, the court heard, although one of the ride operator's roles was to tackle this behaviour using a loud speaker system, it was never used on the day.

4. Poor monitoring of the ride

When Evha fell into the water she was not spotted by ride staff and the alarm was only raised because a member of the public saw her fall in.

The court heard that the CCTV system in place was static and only covered half the course.

It was not always monitored by the ride's operator, who the judge said had to split their time between watching the camera screen and helping passengers to board.

5. Failure to act

The court heard that in a safety meeting, 27 days before the accident, ride staff raised issues with bosses at the Park over the signage, the CCTV and a new sprinkler system which sprayed water at passengers, encouraging them to stand.

The judge said,

"Nothing had been done in the short time between this meeting and the fatal accident to address these matters. But there was a clear appreciation of several ongoing issues concerning safety on the Splash Canyon ride."

The Splash Canyon ride has never reopened since the incident.

The judge acknowledged today that the fine will not be paid, because the company operating the park at the time has gone into administration, and been sold, but he said, "it is important that lessons are learned and the seriousness of the defendant company's failing in this case is marked by an appropriate punishment."