Bobsleigh Accident

[Geoff]

British bobsleighers injured in training crash

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/winter_ ... 478274.stm

Names have not been officially released but are believed to be former GB heptathletes Fiona Harrison and Serita Shone. One is reported as being in a critical condition.

Hopefully, their injuries will not be as bad as first feared and they both make a full and speedy recovery.

[jambob]

According to Nicola Minichiello's twitter it is Fiona Harrison that is in hospital, but she isn't critical

[flemaldinhio]

BBC article has been updated and Serita Shone has spinal injuries and is still under sedation but is described as stable, Fiona Harrison is under observation for a head injury.

I wish both of them well and I hope they recovery quickly from their injuries

[Geoff]

British bobsleigher fractures spine in crash

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/winter_ ... 478274.stm

I wish both well and hope Serita's injury does not lead to any long term disability.

[Geoff]

Bobsleigher Fiona Harrison keen to return after crash

But......
Members of the British and Dutch bobsleigh teams combined to purchase a tablet computer for Shone, who is looking to complete her studies from her hospital bed.

"She's doing really well, she's had two big operations, they've put a lot of metalwork in there to stabilise her spine but all seems to be going well and she's been through a lot more trauma than I have," Harrison said.

"She's a really strong girl, her family are out there and we're all behind her so we just want her to get better as soon as possible."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/winter_ ... 566421.stm

[larkim]

Any ideas about what type of insurance cover athletes in this sort of situation benefit from? If such an accident happened in a "normal" workplace, employers liability insurance would probably be paying out for loss of earnings to cover the period during which the employee would be unable to continue working in a similar role (possibly life long). Interested to know how an athlete who knowingly undertakes a very dangerous sport is protected in the event of something like this happening.

Thanks

Matt

[readtherules]

larkim

Very cleverly most governing bodies ensure that there is not an employee/employer relationship so to avoid exactly what you have in mind.

However it would not surprise me that in these evolving law situations that the Gov bods may not actually escape wider responsibities.

[readtherules]

larkim

Very cleverly most governing bodies ensure that there is not an employee/employer relationship so to avoid exactly what you have in mind.

However it would not surprise me that in these evolving law situations that the Gov bods may not actually escape wider responsibities.

I would add that employees liability would only pay if the employer was at fault.Would any H/S risk assessment allow many dangerous sports ?
I keep pointing,mainly in doping matters,that real law can't be avoided in sport.(See Cricket's betting jail terms)

[larkim]

Your point about employers liability isn't actually true. I know you don't like the concept of strict liability ( ) but I've been talking to our commercial insurance brokers this afternoon about precisely that.

There are certain areas, such as workplace tools and equipment, where employers are strictly liable for faults in law (and therefore under their EL policy). So if a well trained employee using a well maintained piece of equipment suffers an injury as a result of a completely unexpected and unpredictable fault with the machine the EL policy will pay out.

Back in relation to athletics / sport, I can see the absence of an employer / employee relationship avoiding this, but surely athletes taking part in such sports professionally must have some cover arranged, either individually or in association with their professional body. Premiums for bobsleighers will be sky high, but I can't imagine them taking part without cover.

Matt

[larkim]

If only I'd googled first.

Here is the entry form for the British Champs at which the accident happened:-

http://bobteamgb.org/documents/2011-12% ... tation.pdf

Requirements for insurance are there, requiring "suitable insurance to compete in their discipline". Whatever that means...

Matt

[readtherules]

Your point about employers liability isn't actually true. I know you don't like the concept of strict liability ( ) but I've been talking to our commercial insurance brokers this afternoon about precisely that.

There are certain areas, such as workplace tools and equipment, where employers are strictly liable for faults in law (and therefore under their EL policy). So if a well trained employee using a well maintained piece of equipment suffers an injury as a result of a completely unexpected and unpredictable fault with the machine the EL policy will pay out.

Back in relation to athletics / sport, I can see the absence of an employer / employee relationship avoiding this, but surely athletes taking part in such sports professionally must have some cover arranged, either individually or in association with their professional body. Premiums for bobsleighers will be sky high, but I can't imagine them taking part without cover.

Matt

Very helpful ref equipment issue, esp if no fault by employee.
However the employment condition needs dealing with;as we have both noted.
Interesting that you make ref to being a professional,bet the sliders in question are not such.But they may well cover themselves but bet insuers try and get out by trying to blame facilities.Note death at last Olympics.

Does anyone know what happened to the claims from the two throwing officials who died a few years ago.One hammer, the other Discus ?

[trickstat]

Does anyone know what happened to the claims from the two throwing officials who died a few years ago.One hammer, the other Discus ?

I presume the Discus incident you are referring to is the one at a BAL match at Luton in (I think) the mid 1980s. About 10 years ago somebody said to me that apparently it still wasn't resolved and I haven't heard anything since then. It may be relevant to point out that the person who was tragically killed was actually an unqualified helper working on the Pole Vault.

[Geoff]

BBC...
1542 BOBSLEIGH: British bobsleigh brakewoman Serita Shone has taken her first steps since suffering a spinal fracture last month and is hoping to return to the UK from Germany in the next 10 days. Shone has undergone two operations on her spine after being hurt in a training crash in Winterburg.

With regards to insurance I'm not sure many of us who compete, coach, officiate know exactly what we are covered for....until something happens!

I assume Serita has more than adequate medical insurance plus assistance from the bobsleigh federation. Was she on lottery funding? Loss of earnings?

The main thing, though, is for her to make a full recovery.

[Geoff]

Serita Shone: 'I was weightless – then the craziness of the crash'Former heptathlete turned British bobsleigher explains how she is battling back from her near-fatal injuries

I knew something was wrong because it was like an awful burning deep inside me," Serita Shone says of the bobsleigh accident that broke her back and threatened her with paralysis. In a shattering assault on her dream of competing at the winter Olympics, the 175kg bob flipped through the air, hit the roof of the tunnel and almost cut Shone in half as it smashed down on top of her. The memory of that moment, six months ago this Thursday, makes the 22-year-old hesitate.

........Shone, who is full of humour and hope, smiles wryly on a cold April evening in Weymouth. A week on Friday she will take the next step on her remarkable comeback when she competes in the shot put at the British Universities and Colleges championships at the Olympic Stadium. The first test event at the main Olympic arena will offer another personal examination of Shone's courage and desire to make a living in elite sport – almost certainly back in a bobsleigh.

........Despite being covered by medical insurance she has had to use all her savings and rely on her parents to pay her other bills. Shone now wants to battle her way out of hardship and is actively seeking work as a qualified nutritionist. Leaning forward, her eyes shining, Shone says, "I don't want to be defined by this. I want my defining moment to be an achievement in sport. The accident has made me who I am now, but I want to get back in the bob as a driver. My aim is to work my way up to being the No1 ranked driver in Britain. Hopefully that will lead to the Olympic team and, one day, an Olympic medal."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/ap ... eigh-crash

[bevone]

Bobsleigh is one of those strange sports that you only really get to do if you are a soldier or you used to be an athlete, i.e. past your prime or not good enough to make major teams. For some reason,maybe they watched cool runnings, the recruiters have looked at athletics and taken from throws jumps and sprints with several summer olympians giving it a go such as marcus adam and john regis who were major games medallists but tried bobsleigh at the end of their sprinting careers. The plan was to use the athletes to propel the sled using experienced drivers.Perhaps this raises the question about the safety of selecting inexperienced sliders taking the pilot seat. Idont know the answer but just putting it out there. Good luck and a speedy recovery.

[SteveK26]

This story begs a question, though, doesn't it. Who should pay for all the medical costs if an athlete gets so seriously injured competing for GB?
Is it right that she and her family are suffering financially just to put her back together again?

Bobsleigh is a wonderfully exciting sport, and takes amazing courage to do. As does luge. Good luck to her for a full recovery.

[larkim]

This story begs a question, though, doesn't it. Who should pay for all the medical costs if an athlete gets so seriously injured competing for GB?
Is it right that she and her family are suffering financially just to put her back together again?

I don't think its the medical costs that are the issue, it will be the living costs ("other bills") that still need paying. Suffering an injury which not only prevents you from performing in your sport, but also prevents you from getting back onto "civvy street" and earning a living, would be the long term issue.

Matt

[bevone]

Bobsleigh is not that well funded - or wasnt - like most sports. There is a major discrepency between sports, i seem to recall some winter sports individuals over £100k and badinston layers on £70 when athletetics, few get the £24k or so maximum podium money and most exhist on 5K 9K 13K and some can supplement that by getting personal sponsors and other bits and pieces. For such a well funded sport - well over half of the money goes in to administration and much less than 50% on the athletes. I reada somewher £25million income £8-10 million on athletes but even then there seemed to be confusion about if that incuded the competitions budget - i would be happy to be corrected as i genuinely dont know but I cannot think that five or six poeple deserve to be on 6 figure salaries in a realtively small particaption sport and those people onl deal with the top 1 %.