Call for national guidelines after headstone tragedy
● Death of schoolboy, 8, could have been prevented, rules inquiry Sheriff
A sheriff has called for new national safety guidance on graves and memorials across Scotland after ruling that the death of an eight-year-old boy struck by a headstone could have been prevented.
Ciaran Williamson was critically injured in Craigton Cemetery in the Cardonald area of Glasgow after a memorial stone fell on him in May 2015 while he was playing with friends.
A Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into his death has concluded that the local authority did not have an inspection system in place to determine the safety and stability of memorials. Sheriff Linda Ruxton, who headed the inquiry, called on the Scottish Government to implement national guidance covering thousands of cemeteries across the country.
She warned there was a “lack of clear advice” to local authorities over how to test the structural stability of large memorials, and criticised the “absence of Scottish guidance” on safe cemetery management which, she said, posed “significant implications” for public safety.
The FAI heard how a group of five boys were playing a game involving climbing on to the Ross memorial. As
part of the game, the children were pushing off from the top to the perimeter wall and grabbing the branch of a tree to swing to the ground. Ciaran had been standing at its base of the memorial, which weighed almost two and a half tonnes, when it toppled, killing him instantly.
The youngster suffered two fractures to his skull as well as injuries to his heart and liver in the incident on 26 May, 2015.
He was taken to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children but was pronounced dead.
The FAI heard that his death would have been “instantaneous and painless”.
The inquiry found Glasgow City Council stopped carrying out routine memorial inspections several years before the accident.
Sheriff Ruxton ruled that if stability checks had been carried out, the memorial would have failed and been declared unsafe, leading to a cordon or removal. In her findings, Sheriff Ruxton said a routine inspection of the memorial was a “reasonable precaution whereby Ciaran’s death and the accident that resulted in his death might have been avoided”.
At the time of the accident, the memorial was leaning from vertical at an angle of 6.2 to 6.5 degrees, with tree roots undermining the foundations of the gravestone. The structure’s tipping point was an angle of 7.6 degrees.
The sheriff also found that repairing the hole in the wall where the boys has gained access to the cemetery was a reasonable precaution whereby the death might have been avoided.
Sheriff Ruxton said: “I have no hesitation in accepting that this was a tragic accident. There was no suggestion that there had been a deliberate attempt by any of the boys to push over or destabilise the memorial. I am satisfied that, however perilous their activities, they were simply playing and had not appreciated the dangers involved.”
Ciaran’s father, Ryan Williamson, said: “Had Glasgow City Council properly maintained the cemetery Ciaran would still be alive today.”
In her 115-page judgment, Sheriff Ruxton called for an nationwide overhaul of local authority guidance on the safety of memorials and the way in which they are tested.
She wrote: “Large, heavy, multi-part memorials such as the Ross memorial present particular dangers to the public when they begin to shift ... There is a lack of clear advice to local authorities on how to test these moving structures.
“There is an absence of Scottish guidance on safe cemetery management with particular reference to memorial safety. These are matters which have significant implications.”
As part of her recommendations, she said new national safety guidance should specifically address how inspect large monuments.
Nathan Davies from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: “We recognise that graveyards can seem like interesting places to children but they are not playgrounds and can pose risks. Councils should take measures to reduce risks to the public, with sensitivity, while helping them to be risk aware.”
Since Ciaran’s death, Glasgow City Council has carried out stability inspections in all of the city’s cemeteries.
Councillor Anna Richardson said: “I accept the sheriff ’s findings. We are sorry and our thoughts remain with Ciaran’s family and friends. It is clear that the sheriff expects national guidelines and advice to be put in place for all cemeteries and, in particular, for dealing with larger and often older memorials. The council will adopt those guidelines once they are available.”
The death of eight-yearold Ciaran Williamson, after he was hit by a falling gravestone at a cemetery in Glasgow, should never have happened.
The stone, weighing nearly twoand-a-half tonnes, had been undermined by tree roots and was leaning over by more than six degrees when it fell. Had an inspection been carried out, the headstone would have been declared unsafe and Ciaran would still be alive, according to a Fatal Accident Inquiry.
The inquiry heard that Glasgow City Council did not actually have an inspection programme in place, and Sheriff Linda Ruxton also criticised the Scottish Government for an “absence” of guidance for local councils on how to manage cemeteries to ensure they are safe.
It is important that the government now moves quickly to ensure effective guidelines are brought in – and adhered to by cash-strapped local authorities. Ciaran’s death is a warning about the state of our cemeteries, but it should also motivate councils and, indeed, private companies and individuals to ensure buildings and large structures are kept in a good state of repair. Lives may depend on it.