Councillor Tyrone Fields Distances Himself From Diamond Harbour Investigation and Injured, as Council Accepts Pontoon Hazard Could Not Have Been Anticipated
Banks Peninsula Councillor Tyrone Fields has distanced himself from the Hunter Construction designed pontoon that witnessed several injured persons at Diamond Harbour in February. The injured included a young girl, who cut herself on the pontoon and was traumatised.
Source: The Christchurch City Council website
On Tuesday, Fields texted:
“I don’t have any comment to make apart from the fact that we welcome people to Banks Peninsula and the marine environment, and ask them to be mindful as the sea can be a dangerous place.”
But a Hunter-Construction-led investigation has found that the main cause of injuries was the design of the steel rings that surrounded the black flotation tubes that kept the pontoon afloat.
The churning sea current caused the tubes to collide with the steel rings. This trapped the injured parties’ hands between the sharp rings and tubes. (Click here for the 10 July article.)
The Christchurch City Council has accepted the investigation findings that this problem could not have been identified.
Even if “a specific Safety in Design workshop…was undertaken…it is still highly probable that identifying the pile yokes as a potential hazard to the public in this unique environment may not have been anticipated due to no issues encountered with the design and construction of other similar pontoons across the industry.”
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