RelianceRisk

On 9 May 2011, Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt fell to his death while descending the Bocco mountain pass during the third stage of the Giro d’Italia.

Travelling at a speed of up to 80 km/h, Weylandt reportedly lost control of his bike after colliding with a small wall to the side of the road.

According to a witness, Portuguese competitor Manual Cordoso, Weylandt had fallen behind the group. While looking behind him for other dropped riders, his left pedal made heavy contact with the wall, propelling him off the edge of a 20 metre cliff on the other side of the road.… Continue reading »

Last month, images of a horse jumping over a fence and into a startled crowd were shown by media across the world.

The incident occurred at an event on May 5 at the Warnambool Carnival’s Grand Annual Steeplechase, when a horse that lost its rider was corralled into an area intended to hold riderless horses. The horse, however, jumped the area’s two-metre fence into the crowd on the other side, before running away onto a suburban street with police in pursuit.

As well as bringing to light the inadequacy of controls in segregating people from animals, the incident has further tarnished the image and reputation of a sport which has already been phased out in all but two Australian states and territories.… Continue reading »

New Zealand’s tourism industry has suffered another major reputational blow in the aftermath of the British court’s recent inquiry into the death of 21-year-old adventure tourist, Emily Jordan. Having become trapped by submerged boulders, the court found that the backpacker drowned in the Kawarau River near Queenstown, while on an organised river boarding tour in 2008. 

Last year, we described the risks surrounding New Zealand’s adventure sports and their importance to the South Island’s tourism industry. As the scope of these activities broaden and New Zealand’s international reputation for this industry grows, public safety becomes an increasingly central value that is integral to the industry’s brand.… Continue reading »

A surfer died last month after being hit by a boat at Currumbin Alley at the southern end of the Gold Coast.

Richard King’s death was “an accident waiting to happen,” said the Acting Chief Lifeguard for Gold Coast City Council, Peter Miller. The area is popular with surfers and power boats going to sea from the Currumbin Creek.

Miller went on to say that there was very little that could be done to prevent the incident from occurring as surfers must paddle through the creek channel to access the surf break, and the Alley is a popular waterway with powered craft.… Continue reading »

This summer Australia and New Zealand have been battered by a number of natural disasters. The most recent struck on February 22, with the Christchurch earthquake leaving what now looks like in excess of 200 people dead.

In Australia the Queensland and Victorian floods also resulted in fatalities and significant property damage. Cyclone Yasi – one of the largest tropical cyclones in Australia’s history – wreaked havoc across north-eastern Australia. In addition, serious bushfires hit Perth, and Sydney suffered a record heat-wave.

These natural events provide yet another reminder of how the community, its infrastructure and our industry can be affected.… Continue reading »

A furore embroiling AFL player manager, Ricky Nixon, highlights the power of social media and its potential impact from the malicious spread of images and words over the internet.

The Story

In December last year, a then-16-year-old girl made public claims of obtaining nude photos of high profile players from the St Kilda Football Club. She subsequently uploaded the images onto her Facebook profile and they quickly went viral.

The girl threatened to release more damaging photos, and St Kilda went into damage control. In January 2011, as part of a settlement with the girl, the Club announced on its website that it had agreed to pay for hotel accommodation for the girl over several months, to assist the girl “in order for her to gain stability back into her life.”

While this was aimed at mitigating the damage to the Club‘s brand, in February, the girl, now 17, made fresh claims that Mr Nixon had had ‘inappropriate dealings’ of a sexual nature with her in the hotel room.  Although he denies this claim, he admitted to supplying the teenager with alcohol.… Continue reading »

Do you use Gmail or any other Google applications?  If so, you have probably granted Google a licence to use your data that is stored or sent through their servers.

Under Gmail’s Terms of Service, you retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in your materials, however, by accepting their terms, you grant Google a license to use your materials to “reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display through their services.”

Furthermore, under this licence they can “make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services”.… Continue reading »

On November 28 WikiLeaks began releasing a number of secret US diplomatic cables. They have continued – and will continue – to release more information affecting both the government and banking sectors. The incident has brought to light the risks that disgruntled employees may present to an organisation.

The WikiLeaks website relies on whistleblowers to leak information. Although the identity of the insiders is protected, it has been suggested that former employees have been responsible for a number of the leaks.

Risks Posed by Disgruntled Workers

There are a number of significant risks that disgruntled employees pose. These acts may vary in terms of the malicious intent, the public profile of the content and the motivation of the individual.… Continue reading »

Late last month a toddler died after plunging 10 metres from a corporate box at LA’s Staples Center.

The incident reportedly occurred when the family of the two-year-old were taking photographs after a professional basketball match. In the short time the family was not watching the child, he climbed a glass safety barrier and fell.

Falls from height at Public Venues

A spokesman for the venue said ”In 11 years, we’ve never had an incident like this.” However, a closer inspection of similar incidents at other stadiums reveals the occurrence is more prevalent than may be expected.

• A man was critically injured when, while dancing, he fell off railing on the second level of the Telstra Dome during a Robbie Williams Concert in 2003

• Earlier this year, a man died after falling about 7 metres from a press box at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium

• A man died at a Winnipeg football stadium in October this year after tripping down stairs and underneath a guard rail, falling several metres onto concrete below

Is Compliance Enough?… Continue reading »

A stampede during Cambodia’s annual Water Festival has left an estimated 350 people dead late last month.

It is still unclear precisely what incident led to the crush; however, CNN reported that the military began using water cannons on thousands of people walking on an overcrowded bridge. There is further speculation that faulty wiring caused a number of people to suffer an electric shock, which sparked a mass panic and the ensuing crush.

In the past five months, #*IT Happens has covered the issue of crowd crush four times. As incident after incident leads to further loss of life, it is becoming clear that there are still lessons to be learned.… Continue reading »