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Company fined over boy's death after boogie board accident

COPFS Kayden Walker looking directly at the camera. The picture is filtered with a brown-grey filter over the top and several white marks. Kayden is 12 years old and has dark eyes and dark hair covering his forehead.COPFS
Kayden Walker died after the boogie boarding session with a church group on the River Tay in Perthshire

An outdoor activity firm has been fined £10,000 for failings which led to the death of a boy following a boogie boarding accident on the River Tay.

Kayden Walker became separated from his board and was trapped on the upstream side of a weir for more than three minutes before an instructor was able to free him.

The 12-year-old, from Bridgeton, Glasgow, had been on a day trip with other children near Stanley village on 28 July 2019.

Outdoor Pursuits Scotland Ltd, who ran the activity, were fined after admitting a breach of health and safety legislation at Perth Sheriff Court.

Kayden was among a group of children taking part in the activity while on a trip with the Church House Community Group.

A consent form signed before setting off stated he was “unable to swim 10 metres without the assistance of a flotation device”.

Children were going over the weir, which has a slightly raised water level on the upstream side, on the boards between two Church House employees.

Instructors from Outdoor Pursuits Scotland were below the weir at the time.

A helicopter pad with a helicopter near Stanley surrounded by trees. An ambulance and a police van are also in the picture
A helicopter arrived on the scene to take Kayden to hospital

Kayden was the final child to go over the weir, but community group employees were unable to see him after his board resurfaced.

One instructor from Outdoor Pursuits reached into the water where he had last seen Kayden and found him stuck about an arm’s length below the surface.

He was unable to pull Kayden out due to the power of the water.

The instructor eventually managed to free him after about three-and-a-half minutes, but the force of the water carried him downstream.

The director of the company was able to pull him from the water and immediately began performing CPR while at least one other adult phoned the ambulance service.

A helicopter arrived to fly Kayden to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, before he was transferred to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow.

He died the following the day.

'Devastating consequences'

An investigation by Perth and Kinross Council found Outdoor Pursuits had insufficient health and safety precautions in place prior to the incident.

They said their risk assessment for river boarding did not have adequate control measures in place.

An additional probe by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) heard evidence from a water activities expert.

They recommended the company should have had one instructor directly below the weir and one in a kayak directly above until all of the group had passed over it.

Debbie Carroll, COPFS lead for health and safety investigations, said the firm’s failures had resulted in “devastating consequences”.

She added: “Kayden Walker was a happy, friendly, and much-loved child who enjoyed helping younger children within his church group.

“His tragic death could have been prevented had the company ensured a safe system of work was in place to allow participants to safely negotiate the weir.

“This should serve as a warning to others who run outdoor and water activity business. A failure to manage the risk in such ventures can have devastating consequences."