An inquest into the death of 34 year-old Irishman Brendan Hickey at Vivid Festival in 2014 has found the festival had no emergency plan for the situation.
Hickey died after falling into the water at Cockle Bay on 23rd May 2014. He was said to have been heavily drinking since 7pm that night and mostly likely drowned.
As the ABC reports, The inquest was looking into the festival’s procedural documents and found that the staff were not advised about how to respond to an incident of its kind.
The events manager on the night, Michael Prescott, was responsible for liaising with the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority’s control room, however, he did not stop the show once it became apparent that the man had fallen into the water. He believed it would be easier to search with everybody in place rather than moving around.
He further had never considered the scenario of a festival-goer falling into the water as a a risk assessment procedure.
The Precinct security coordinator Robert Dimitrioski told the inquest that there didn’t seem to be any emergency plan on the night or command and control structure.
Earlier this year it was revealed that Hickey had a 0.25 Blood Alcohol Count when he died and could also not swim.
Counsel Assisting the Inquest, Mark Cahill, said, “there was little real prospect of preventing a drowning when Mr Hickey entered the water”.
The inquest is ongoing.
