Relevant resources can be found using the 'Emergencies', 'School Trips' and 'Risk Assessment' tags in the Quick Guides LibraryOn Tuesday 9th May, an 11 year old girl now named as Evha Jannath from Leicester, fell to her death from Drayton Manor’s Splash Canyon water ride. Evha was visiting the theme park as part of a school trip with Jame’ah Girls Academy, an independent Islamic day school. After falling from the ride, trained park staff immediately attended the scene and recovered her from the water. She then received advanced life support from ambulance crews, before being airlifted to Birmingham Children’s Hospital where she sadly passed away shortly after arrival.
At this time there are conflicting reports as to how she fell from the ride, so we shall not speculate. Drayon Manor’s website describes Splash Canyon as a river rapid ride in which boats with a capacity of six people “swerve around corners”, “splash through the waves” and are “swept along our fast-flowing rapids”.
In a statement a director of Drayton Manor, George Bryan, said: “We are all truly shocked and devastated, and our thoughts are with the family and friends at this horrendously difficult time”. As a mark of respect to the family, the theme park will remain closed on Wednesday. Jame’ah Girls Academy will also be closed for the day and have said there are providing “support to pupils and staff” and have asked that both Evha’s family and the school community are given “time to grieve”. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have begun an investigation.
Handsam would like to offer our condolences to Evha’s family, friends and of course the school community.
In spite of good planning and organisation on school trips, there may be problems and emergencies, such as this incredibly sad incident, that require an on-the-spot response and information distribution.
For minor problems and emergencies, it is imperative that leaders construct and circulate a Telephone Tree to enable information to be relayed to all concerned in the minimum amount of time.
For major incidents, once any necessary emergency services have been contacted, the Head Teacher should be contacted by telephone during school hours and at home out of hours.If not available, the Deputy Head Teacher should be contacted. If neither the Head Teacher nor Deputy Head Teacher are available, the Learning Outside the Classroom Coordinator/Educational Visits Coordinator (EVC) should be contacted. A full list of senior staff member contact details should be confirmed and taken on all school trips.
Should a major accident, emergency or tragic event occur during an educational visit, the school should establish a crisis line where 24 hour support will be available. Designated and trained individuals will take responsibility for managing the crisis and its aftermath, including dealing with the press.
Useful resources can be found using the 'Emergencies', 'School Trips' and 'Risk Assessment' tags in the Handsam Quick Guides Library, especially documents CP13 England Dealing with Tragedy in School and GM38 England Guidance on Emergency Resposnes. We urge all clients to review their procedures at least once a year and many should take the opportunity to do so before the busy summer trip season, which is just commencing.
Handsam can provide an emergency response service, which includes a 24/7 telephone line and a response centre manned by experts. Additional services include trauma counselling, crisis PR and management mentoring. Please call 03332 070737 or email info@handsam.co.uk for further information.
