A health and safety consultancy has addressed criticism of its recommendations regarding seatbelts on floats in the Christchurch Children’s Christmas Parade, saying its approach was measured and aligned with practical risk management rather than an overreach.

Dr. Sage Robinson, Director and Principal Occupational Hygienist for Health and Sound and Sound Solutions said discussions with the Parade Director began in October, focusing on improving safety measures.

“During our meetings with the Parade Director, safety improvements and initiatives to the floats were discussed, and various safety measures were already being installed on floats that had been identified by the Parade Director,” Robinson said. “The inclusion of seatbelts on some floats, including the Santa Float, was mentioned.

“No formal recommendation was made by any of our consultants that all floats must have seatbelts installed. Our primary suggestion was to complete a simple risk assessment for each float, focusing on the overall safety of participants,” Robinson said.

“The risk assessments were designed to take a practical approach to managing safety while ensuring that all vehicles and floats are safe and in good operating order,” Robinson said.

“This considered various control measures such as seatbelts, handrails, poles to hold onto, or other similar safety features, all of which showed a proactive approach by the Christmas Show Parade, as a majority of the floats had these control measures already existing.

“While we acknowledge that not all risks can be fully eliminated, it is important to consider reasonable steps to minimise them in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015,” Robinson said.

“As such, we recognised that not every float would require seatbelts, depending on its design, the nature of participant activity, the heights, the potential risks, and existing control measures.”

The Christchurch Children’s Christmas Parade Trust received a donation of seatbelts, which have since been fitted to a number of floats. Robinson praised the Trust’s commitment to safety: “We fully support the Christchurch Children’s Christmas Parade Trust’s commitment to keeping everyone safe, including participants, volunteers, and attendees, and taking all practicable steps to identify hazards and manage risks during the event.”

Robinson highlighted examples of similar safety protocols in place at other parades, such as the Arrowtown Autumn Festival, which mandates that “fall prevention is of utmost importance on a moving vehicle” and that participants must be restrained or have secure guardrails or handholds.

International guidelines like the American National Standard ANSI E1.57-2016 provide further evidence of best practices for fall prevention on parade floats.

Robinson pointing to examples where participants fell from floats during parades overseas. These included injuries at Mardi Gras and a Christmas parade in the US.

Parade Director Jason Reekers said the recommendations were “a bit of a shock.”

“Unfortunately, once a recommendation had been made it must be acted on, otherwise we will get the “I told you so” and be held to account if by chance anything did happen.

“We are very lucky to have such great support. Mike Fiddymont from Fiddymont seatbelts donated all the seatbelts and our sponsor VIP made and supplied all the safety bars at no cost to us” Reekers said.

“It just took time that we didn’t really have to fasten and install them all. We will be the safest Christmas parade in New Zealand now.”

The Christmas Parade is held at the Canterbury Agricultural Park and starts at 2PM on Sunday, with entertainment starting at 11AM.

The parade tradition in Christchurch began in 1947, founded by James Hay and originally named the Hay’s Christmas Pageant after his popular retail store, Hay’s. Over the years, the pageant underwent several name changes, becoming the Haywrights Parade and eventually the Farmers Santa Parade.