Legal Analysis of the Article, Tourist Breaks Back on Sentosa Ride
Legal Analysis on “Tourist Breaks Back on Sentosa Ride” Article
Sherlyn Goh, Nathanael Sim, Tay Wenyao, Shi Jinhua, Tong Mingshuo
Factual Summary of Case Australian tourist, Michael McCarthy, suffered a fall and broke his back while riding Sentosa’s MegaZip, which is a flying fox adventure ride run by Flying Dragon Adventures (FDA). The riders would initially slide down the zipline fast and would be slowed down by a braking mechanism as they approach the landing platform. However, in this case, McCarthy was travelling towards the landing platform at a faster speed than usual. As a result, he crashed onto the platform and broke several vertebrae in his back. He felt incredible pain and could not breathe for a minute and a half. McCarthy had no immediate medical help as there was no medical staff on-site. He only received assistance half an hour later and was taken to Singapore General Hospital 1 hour 15 minutes later. He received 35 stitches to his back and spent 5 days in and out of the intensive care unit. As for the ride, McCarthy satisfied safety requirements of being at least 0.7m tall and less than 140kg in weight. This was the first accident in its two-year history of operation. Before the accident, the ride had been taken by at least 200,000 visitors in total and was already taken by 140 people on that day. Alexander Blyth, managing director of the ride, believed that all safety procedures were followed, that nothing failed and nothing snapped. The ride also requires customers to sign indemnity forms, in which contains an exemption clause that states that they are not responsible for any deaths or personal injuries unless through gross negligence. Blyth reported the case to the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), the regulatory body for amusement rides. Lawyers are attempting to seek compensation for McCarthy’s injuries, as they question the validity of the exclusion clause in the indemnity form by bringing up the Unfair Contract Terms Act (UCTA).
Sherlyn Goh, Nathanael Sim, Tay Wenyao, Shi Jinhua, Tong Mingshuo
Factual Summary of Case Australian tourist, Michael McCarthy, suffered a fall and broke his back while riding Sentosa’s MegaZip, which is a flying fox adventure ride run by Flying Dragon Adventures (FDA). The riders would initially slide down the zipline fast and would be slowed down by a braking mechanism as they approach the landing platform. However, in this case, McCarthy was travelling towards the landing platform at a faster speed than usual. As a result, he crashed onto the platform and broke several vertebrae in his back. He felt incredible pain and could not breathe for a minute and a half. McCarthy had no immediate medical help as there was no medical staff on-site. He only received assistance half an hour later and was taken to Singapore General Hospital 1 hour 15 minutes later. He received 35 stitches to his back and spent 5 days in and out of the intensive care unit. As for the ride, McCarthy satisfied safety requirements of being at least 0.7m tall and less than 140kg in weight. This was the first accident in its two-year history of operation. Before the accident, the ride had been taken by at least 200,000 visitors in total and was already taken by 140 people on that day. Alexander Blyth, managing director of the ride, believed that all safety procedures were followed, that nothing failed and nothing snapped. The ride also requires customers to sign indemnity forms, in which contains an exemption clause that states that they are not responsible for any deaths or personal injuries unless through gross negligence. Blyth reported the case to the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), the regulatory body for amusement rides. Lawyers are attempting to seek compensation for McCarthy’s injuries, as they question the validity of the exclusion clause in the indemnity form by bringing up the Unfair Contract Terms Act (UCTA).