Safety Board: Town paid no attention to monster truck dangers

The permit granted by the municipality of Haaksbergen to the monster truck event last year made little or no contribution to the safety of the public. That is the conclusion of the Dutch Safety Board in the investigation into the monster truck accident in Haaksbergen last year that left 3 people dead and 28 others injured. During the investigation the Safety Board looked at how the permit was issued and what the weaknesses are in the process. According to the Board, event licensing is a safety-critical process that requires a vigilant attitude from municipalities, organizers and executors of stunts. The Safety Board concluded that there was too little vigilance from those involved in the monster truck event last year. The fair-like character of the event and the fact that it had been taking place for years lead to too little attention paid to safety risks. According to the board, the reason for the lack of alertness can be attributed to the limited task interpretation on the permit, the idea of all involved parties that there was little risk at the event, the limited involvement of the management and the mayor and the poor functioning of evaluation and peer review. The Safety Board believes that many Dutch municipalities can make better use of event permits as a tool by focusing on permit granting as a safety-critical process. In the Board's opinion, the existing legislation and regulations leave enough space to do so. After the accident in Haaksbergen, the municipality customized the permit granting procedure in various points. The Safety Board believes that in Haaksbergen the mayor must take a central role in the permit granting process, so that he can continuously keep monitoring the permits. At the same time the maintaining officers work actively to make sure that the event organizers know about the risks and have them under control so that public safety is not compromised.