Coroner says marshal's death avoidable

Australian Formula One Grand Prix organisers failed to properly manage the risk to marshals at last year's race that saw a track official killed by flying debris, an Australian coroner said on Friday.

Victoria State Coroner Graeme Johnstone said in his report on the death of marshal Graham Beveridge that the fatal accident was avoidable as race organisers had known for years of the risk of debris flying through gaps in the safety fence.

Beveridge, 52, died when he was struck by a flying wheel from the wreckage of a collision between Canadian Jacques Villeneuve and German Ralf Schumacher.

The wheel shot through a gap in the safety fence and hit him in the chest at about 175 kilometres per hour (109 mph).

"In this case, those agencies responsible for organising the 2001 Australian Formula One Grand Prix motor race failed to satisfactorily manage the risk to marshals created by gaps in the debris fence," Johnstone said in his report.

"The issue of the potential for debris to go through the gap had been identified by CAMS (Confederation of Australian Motor Sport) years prior to the running of the 2001 event at Albert Park," he said.

"The AGPC (Australian Grand Prix Corporation), through its chief executive officer, was aware of the gap issue. The eventual solution was not only obvious, it was practical, and should have been in place before the racing incident at Albert Park.

"Mr Beveridge's death was avoidable."

STILL RACING

AGPC chairman Ron Walker confirmed on Friday that the 2002 Australian Formula One Grand Prix, the first event on the annual calendar, would go ahead as scheduled on March 3.

"Since the tragedy last March, a great deal of thought and effort has been expended on coming up with solutions to avoid such an occurrence again," Walker said in a statement released after the coroner's report was handed down.

"Safety initiatives, independent of the coronial inquiry, had already been implemented for this year's race," Walker said.

Walker said the AGPC had annually engaged an independent risk management consultant for the past 17 years to advise it on safety issues prior to races.

Those consultants included the sports world governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), CAMS and other experts and the AGPC had acted in accordance with that advice.

A Victoria Police spokesman told local media that Beveridge's family would not be commenting on the coroner's report.

Formula one supremo Bernie Ecclestone's FIA was not represented at the inquest and has not yet commented.

SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS

Last year race organisers said Beveridge's death was a freakish accident. Australian newspapers quoted Walker as saying two days after the accident: "This is a one-in-a-million chance, like a needle in a haystack".

But coroner Johnstone found such an argument did not avoid the need to manage the risk.

"Once it was realised that debris could go through the gaps, and because of the potential and likely velocity of the debris, even a small item could cause injury or death," Johnstone said.

"The fact a larger item went through, in what has been described by some as freakish circumstances, is not an argument that avoids the need to have managed the risk," he said.

The race organisers have already outlined plans to increase the height of safety fences at the circuit and to seek safety assessments from independent experts after Johnstone had earlier recommended safety improvements be implemented before the race.

The coroner praised race organisers for improving safety since the fatal accident.