When the firewalking organisers weren’t motivated enough to identify the additional risks
What happened?
A senior accountant working for a well-known international business advisory group took part in a firewalking activity designed to ‘build confidence’, the highlight of a motivational skills course proving that ‘the seemingly impossible could be accomplished’.
The firewalking was conducted by a third party corporate development firm and had carried out similar events for five years with thousands of people taking part.
Firewalking is supposed to be safe, even though the embers usually burn at 650 to 815 Centigrade. Skin on the soles of your feet is generally twenty-five times thicker than on other parts of the body, and the trick is to get across the bed of embers quickly so that they do not have time to burn the tissue.
The woman, however, had been given a pedicure a few days before and it is thought some of the chemicals used had made her feet more sensitive to the heat. She immediately complained of pain to her feet, and blisters soon appeared. The woman was taken to hospital, and she had to take a fortnight off work.
When investigated, it became clear that the corporate development firm failed to offer information about skin conditions that would have excluded the woman from firewalking.
Legal Outcome
The corporate development firm was prosecuted and were fined £3,000 plus £4.655 costs.
The accountants still use the development firm, but have banned its employees from firewalking.
What can we learn from what happened?
This case study is in the Activity Category of Sport and Leisure. Now, normally taking part in a sporting or leisurely activity is enjoyable – firewalking is not enjoyable, and it is hard to see the attraction, even if the motivational benefits work for you, but there you are.
I have no evidence of this, but are firewalking events less popular now than they were back in the day? It seems that way, whether this is because of the risks involved and the usual fear of litigation, or whether it was just a fad that had its day, I don’t know. Either way, hot embers can cause harm, so the risks need managing.
For info, another firewalking case study will appear in the library at a later date. It’s quite an interesting area of safety management, when the ‘sole’ purpose of the activity is to physically expose yourself to the actual hazard.
Source of Information
The Times