Isle of Man TT Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson has decided that a debris fence will be installed in front the big scoreboards on the Glencrutchery Road purely to protect the Scout that work on it.
Thompson, who is ultimately responsible for the safety of riders, marshals and employees at the TT, told bikesportnews.com that until these measures are put in place all that is protecting the Scouts that work on the big board is some Armco and that is not acceptable.
"This is a safety measure and is down to me really. As we all know the performance of bikes is increasing year on year, they are getting faster all the time. Glencrutchery Road is now a fast left-hander when competitors go over the start/finish line on a flying lap. There is already a lot of talk that the sub 17-minute lap could be achieved at this year’s TT,” said Thompson in a interview in today’s Bikesport News.
"I did a risk assessment last year during the Festival of Motorcycling and concluded that if a bike was to lose control through this section or two bikes were to touch, the only thing that the Scouts on the Scoreboard had for protection was some Armco, a wooden bannister and some green wire mesh – not really sufficient considering bikes achieve 186+ mph through this part of the Course.
“Instead of waiting for something to happen and then put something in place, I carried out the Risk Assessment and have mitigated the risk by putting in place a debris fence. Nothing has happened here, but if it did and some Scouts were seriously injured or worse… where would the TT be then?
“Some people will kick off about the debris fence, some people will say it is an unnecessary measure, some people will say I have gone over the top - but as we all know the Scouts have been part of the Scoreboard since Adam was a lad – whether people agree they should be there or not – and as Clerk of the Course I have a responsibility and duty of care to provide adequate protection for them to carry out their role in keeping the iconic scoreboard up to date. I believe the introduction of the debris fence will achieve this.”
