Golf clubs must improve course safety in wake of liability case
The Scottish Golf Union (SGU) issued a warning about on-course safety after the controversial case, which was destined for the Supreme Court, between Niddry Castle Golf Club in West Lothian and two golfers was settled.
Anthony Phee, who was a visitor to the course, lost an eye after being hit by a ball struck by fellow amateur player James Gordon ?in 2007.
Mr Phee was awarded ?397,034.82, with Mr Gordon liable for 70% and the club 30% due to its "failure to place signs at appropriate places".
Niddry Castle appealed the decision, arguing that 30% liability was unfair. But the appeal court in Edinburgh disagreed and substantially altered the award, finding the golf club 80% liable with just 20% liability attributed to Mr Gordon.
In its emailed communiqu? the SGU warned: "The recent decision of the Inner House of the Court Session on Phee v Gordon and Niddry Castle Golf Club makes it imperative that clubs give greater attention to general health and safety procedures, in particular the area of course hazards, and the insurance you have in place at your club.
"The court found the club's failure to warn was a significant failure and was of a greater magnitude than that of Mr Gordon."
The SGU said it was not apparent that the club's accident book has been readily available for the reporting of incidents of accidents caused by golfers.
Glasgow Life and South Lanarkshire Leisure & Culture who operate municpal courses both confirmed they are reviewing safety measures.
Glasgow Life said it was examining its guidance to players in the light of the judgment although it said its six municipal public courses were designed to minimise risk.
A spokeswoman for South Lanarkshire Council said a review is being undertaken "of our on-course risk assessments incorporating directional and safety signage".
Edinburgh Leisure said that after the court case it introduced compulsory golfers' insurance which covers individuals who play on their municipal courses.
David Moir, secretary of Cathkin Braes Golf Club, said it had carried out a risk assessment and new warning notices were now in preparation, although he did point out that "the wee white ball is easily hit poorly and travels in a direction which it is not intended on many occasions".
He said the signs "will help 'advise' members and guests of dangers from, for example, adjoining fairways".
He added: "There are already some signs on the course but these need to be improved.
"The more warning signs the better the chance of all members and guests and walkers on the course will be aware of the need for vigilance."
The SGU pointed out that Niddry Castle had encouraged visitors to play on the golf course, whether or not they were experienced golfers.
"It was not entitled to assume that the people walking on the course were aware of the rules of golf or how to respond to a warning shout," it said.
"It ought to have been aware that some golfers would be beginners or relatively inexperienced and it was not entitled to assume that all golfers would play in a safe manner all of the time."
The SGU added: "Golf clubs and responsible officials need to understand that the general duty of care to members, visitors and employees has not altered, however this judgment places an onerous responsibility on clubs to ensure that the appropriate risk assessments are completed and that members and visitors are fully aware of the rules of golf."
Kate Bennett of HBM Sayers Solicitors, representing Mr Gordon, expressed her client's relief following the appeal court's decision but said her client remained disappointed that there was no finding of negligence on the part of Mr Phee for his failure to respond to warning shouts.
She welcomed the Scottish Golf Union's decision to recommend golf clubs give greater attention to general health and safety procedures and insurance arrangements, adding that individual golfers are also encouraged to carry specialist golfers' insurance.
mick jagger Newton Shooting Newtown Shooting Gangnam Style Ryan Lanza Sandy Hook Univision
prissilawikarson পোস্ট করেছে @ ৫:৪৩ PM
0টি মন্তব্য
LinkedIn is positioned to become the first global economic graph with the ability to mine the transactions of an emerging data economy. That’s the conclusion of a study by faberNovel, a Paris-based consulting group that has published the results of its work with a detailed 127-slide report titled: LinkedIn, The Serious Network. FaberNovel has a history of doing reports about the tech giants. As Ingrid Lunden wrote, last year it examined?why Facebook at that time was the perfect startup. And in years past, the firm has published reports about?how Amazon controls e-commerce,?how Apple dominates, and?what could go wrong with Google. The company chose Linkedin for its expertise in data analytics and algorithms, which has helped LinkedIn become far more than a site to post a resume. Instead, FaberNovel argues, LinkedIn is positioned to become a mega business platform. Since its start 10 years ago, LinkedIn has become the place for people to network. In recent years, though, it has started pooling the data, becoming one of the early adopters of open-source data technologies, such as Hadoop and Lucene/Solr for search. It has one of the most-recognized teams of data scientists who have learned to shape the data to create what CEO Jeff Weiner calls a global economic graph. It’s through the understanding of its users’ interactions that LinekdIn is establishing a platform that could put it in a position to emerge as an enterprise services provider and a player in the CRM market. LinkedIn understands the new concepts of business, particularly the transition from hierarchical to network-based organizations. The trend is to treat business as a graph more than a top-down organization with centralized communications and infrastructure. The company is adapting to this change in how an organization functions by focusing on talent as the center of its network. This provides the basis for developing products and services that span recruitment, as well as the expansion into the CRM and media markets. FaberNovel argues that the data LinkedIn collects and efficiently analyzes will help the company realize what LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner calls the company’s dream to create an economic graph that identifies the connections in its vast talent network. It’s by connecting the data that LinkedIn will continue to better its real-time analysis. Growing Fast LinkedIn is still small compared to its competitors in terms of revenue, but it is the fastest-growing talent network in the world with 225
YouTube confirmed that it has renewed its deal with music video distributor VEVO. Not only does the deal allow YouTube to keep VEVO's videos on its site, but it also requires Google to invest in VEVO. Though terms of the deal have not been disclosed, Billboard 
