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A TEENAGE schoolgirl has died after falling down a flight of stairs at a Greater Manchester secondary school.
Paramedics were called to Jeff Joseph Technology College, in Sale Moor, Trafford, on Monday morning, after reports that a 13-year-old pupil had fallen down the last few steps of an internal flight of stairs.
The pupil was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital, but she was pronounced dead on arrival.
A post mortem examination was due to be held to determine whether the fall itself was the cause of the youngster's death.
And an inquest into her death is expected to be opened within the next few days.

Police and health and safety officials from the council visited the school following the incident.
But police and education bosses say there are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.
"Our belief is that this was an unfortunate and tragic accident," said Mr. Pratt.
A police spokesman added: "The girl is believed to have fallen down the last few steps of a flight of steps inside the school.
There are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances. The matter has been referred to the coroner."
(Source Manchester Evening News)
 
 
SCHOOLBOY Steven Commey, who was hit on the back of his head by a discus during a sports lesson, has died.
Steven, 14, of Ramsgill Close, Northern Moor, Wythenshawe, had been on life support at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.
The accident happened at Barlow RC High School, Didsbury.
Steven was unconscious and in cardiac arrest when an ambulance crew reached him.
It is thought he never regained consciousness and his life-support machine was switched off after doctors could do no more for him.
A coroner will hold an inquest and the Health and Safety Executive is also investigating.
Jeff Hardman, of European Education Consultants, who specialise in health and safety strategy for schools, said the inquiry will decide if the incident was a simple accident.
(Source Manchester Evening News)
 
 
PARENTS OF A SCHOOLGIRL who was epileptic are considering action against her school because the school failed to inform a school trips insurance company of her condition. During the trip the girl suffered an epileptic fit and a resulting fall has left her paralysed in both legs. Because of the oversight by the school, which could have been highlighted in a risk assessment, the girl and her parents are left without insurance cover.
(Source Scottish new report)
 
TEACHERS today  remembered the 10-year-old boy who drowned on a trip to the Lake District as a "popular and clever"pupil. Max Palmer was swept downstream when a group of students from Fleetwood High School, Lancashire were bathing in a small river near Glenridding, Cumbria. Max was on the trip with the older children because his mother Patricia is an educational support assistant at the school.
 She was also swept away by the torrent as she tried to rescue her son and both were later pulled unconscious from the water by mountain rescue teams. Max was declared dead at the scene, while his mother was airlifted to Furness General Hospital suffering from mild hypothermia. Carolyn Thackway, deputy headteacher of Shakespeare Primary School which Max attended, said: "It is a tragic loss of life for a boy who had so much going for him. "Max was very, very popular boy who was very clever," she said.
The police and Health and Safety Executive have launched an investigation into the incident.
(Source Daily Mirror)
 
 
 
A schoolboy was left dangling from a basketball net by his hand after leaping up to score.
Matthew Stenson, 15 was in agony after a metal link in the hoop dug into a finger on his right hand.
Friends held the schoolboy up until firefighters cut him free. He had the link taken out in  hospital.
 
An education authority has been fined £10,000 after a 12-year-old boy suffered a fractured skull when a school basketball post fell on him. Suffolk County Council admitted breaching health and safety laws by failing to ensure that pupils were properly protected as a result of the injuries sustained by Adam Butcher at All Saints Middle School in Sudbury, Suffolk, in October 2000.
Magistrates in Bury St Edmunds, who also ordered the council to pay £5,700 costs, said they regarded the offence as "very serious". The Health and Safety Executive, which brought the prosecution, said the case acted as a warning to any authority responsible for equipment such as basketball posts or football goalposts to ensure that proper maintenance checks were carried out. Adam's parents Jocelyn and Simon, who were in court, said they were launching a civil action for damages against the county council.
 
 
A teacher and his school were fined £27,000.00  over the death of a pupil on a sailing trip.
Paul dove will pay £2000.00 over the drowning of Elizabeth Bee, nine who fell from the boat into Portsmouth Harbour in 1999. It was unstable because a missing ring let water into the hull.
Boundary Oak school in Fareham, was fined #£25,000.00 for health and safety failure, at Portsmouth crown court.
 
 
A top Tyneside school has been ordered to pay more than £5,500 after pupils were hurt when a chemistry experiment went wrong.
Two pupils at St Cuthbert's High School in Newcastle needed hospital treatment after they were sprayed with a chemical during the A-level experiment, a court heard. The school's governing body was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £3,638 costs after it admitted responsibility for the explosion in the school's science laboratory.
 
It pleaded guilty to failing in its duty to protect its pupils under the Health and Safety Act at Gosforth Magistrates' Court. Health and Safety Inspector Chris Lucas told the bench A-level pupils were undertaking a practical experiment to identify an unknown substance. They were told to use Tollen's reagent, made up of ammonia, silver nitrate and caustic soda, to see if the compound was an aldehyde.
 
Mr Lucas said pupils were "showered" with the reagent and two of them needed hospital treatment after they were sprayed in the eye. The student worst affected, who was 17 at the time of the accident in February 2002, needed a special biological dressing to repair the damage to his eye, Mr. Lucas said. He also suffered post traumatic stress, the inspector added.
 
Mr. Lucas said the school should have realised the dangers of preparing the Tollen's reagent too far in advance as it was widely known it could become unstable within 30 minutes. He added that the pupils affected were not wearing safety glasses. (Source www.bbc.co.uk/news/education
(Risk Assessments:)
 
 
City fined £7500 for school asbestos alert

 EDINBURGH City Council has been fined £7500 after asbestos was found on ledges in a primary school. The deadly fibres were discovered in classrooms after roof repairs. Fears were raised by parents and staffs after tests revealed fallen particles on ledges and around radiators was asbestos. The school had to be temporarily closed down and pupils moved to a nearby site. (Source Scottish News)
 
 
School fined for sexual harassment of teachers by pupils
The Labour Court has ordered a second level school to pay compensation totalling €30,000 to two teachers who were sexually harassed by pupils attending the school. The case was taken by two female teachers with the support of the ASTI and the Equality Authority. The Labour Court determination, which states that the school is directly liable for the harassment to which the teachers were subjected, is the first of its kind in Ireland . It means that schools clearly have a duty to provide  sexual harassment for all teachers and staff.
 
The Labour Court found that having received complaints of sexual harassment by the teachers, the school failed to take sufficient measures to prevent further harassment. By failing to take any additional initiative the school principal and Board of Management "failed in their duty to act reasonably so as to protect the claimants from further incidents of sexual harassment". It emphasises the duty schools have to provide a safe working environment for teachers which is free from sexual harassment by pupils and others."
In a separate case taken by the ASTI on behalf of one of the teachers, the Labour Court found that she was constructively dismissed because she took an equality case against the school in relation to the occurrence of sexual harassment. The school has been ordered to pay an additional €13,000 for the constructive dismissal of the teacher (Source - Irish Press release)
 
 
The parents of a boy who choked to death on a chicken nugget at the school are to sue education chiefs.
The parents are to take action after the judge slammed supervision at the boys special school. The parents claim that staff did not follow instructions to cut the 11-year-old's food into small pieces.
The court said that proper procedures could have prevented the tragedy.
 
A nursery where an allergic child died after eating a milk product has been fined £60,000 and has been ordered to pay £19,000 costs.
 
The firm running the nursery in Browns Wood, Milton Keynes , had earlier pleaded guilty to a series of failures under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
 
Thomas Egan, who was five months old, was found to be allergic to all dairy products shortly after his birth in October 2001. But a nurse  fed Thomas a breakfast cereal, not realising it contained milk. The baby turned blue, struggled to breathe, and died from massive anaphylactic shock - a severe allergic reaction.
 
Nursery admitted failure
The firm had pleaded guilty at Milton Keynes Magistrates Court in August this year but the case was referred to Aylesbury Crown Court. The company admitted a failure in its duty to ensure that children were not exposed to risks to their health. The nursery nurse who fed him had not checked the label, and the ingredients contained dried milk. 
 
 
The fatal stabbing of Lincolnshire school pupil, Luke Walmsley, this week inevitably raised concerns over school security. But, while no-one would want to minimise the horror of this tragic event, does it warrant a rush to action? There are a number of reasons for caution. First, incidents like this are mercifully rare. Yet a closer look at these incidents reveals that fatal attacks by one pupil on another are exceptional, particularly if they occur inside school buildings. Most fatalities have involved intruders, usually with no connection to the school.
Most schools now have better fences, more secure entrances, security cameras and intruder alarms.
There have also been changes in the law making it a criminal offence to carry knives or other offensive weapons on school premises and giving the police powers to search for knives inside schools.
The guidelines on disciplining pupils caught with offensive weapons have also been strengthened.
It is now easier to expel a pupil for a first offence and appeals panels cannot reinstate pupils who have been found in possession of weapons.
 
It is perhaps worth recalling the comments of Lord Cullen after his inquiry into the Dunblane tragedy.
He said that while schools should be as safe as possible a balance had to be struck and "it would be unacceptable to carry measures to the point where schools were turned into fortresses".
(Source BBC News)
 
Your Risk Management Database contains the following assessments:
 
Security and Violence: Handling Violence
Security and Violence: Security Management
Security and Violence: Security Management (Personnel)
Security and Violence: Security Management (Primary)
Security and Violence: Security Management (Head Teacher)
Security and Violence: Violence to Staff
 
A pupil needed hospital treatment after being stabbed in a classroom at a school near Brighton.
The 14-year-old boy suffered injuries to his hand in the assault which happened at Longhill School in Rottingdean. Police were called to the 1,000-pupil comprehensive secondary school in Falmer Road on Wednesday morning.A 15-year-old boy was arrested and questioned by officers from Brighton CID as a result of the incident.
 
The classroom where the stabbing happened was sealed off by police and a craft knife was recovered by officers. The victim was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital but has since been released and is recovering at home.
 
Police said on Thursday the 15-year-old had been released without charge on police bail.
A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said that a review of the circumstances surrounding the incident would take place.
 
Source BBC News
 
School safety calls after toddler killed
 
The family of a two-year-old boy have criticised safety in the school grounds where he was killed. 
Counsellors are still at Ysgol Cymerau in Pwllheli, to help staff and pupils after the accident at 0850 GMT on Wednesday when a Ford Fiesta being driven by a supply teacher reversed into the child sitting in a buggy.
The accident happened as parents were bringing children and staff were arriving for the start of the school day.
It has since emerged that the issue of safety at the school's entrance has been raised as a matter of concern in the past
BBC Wales has learned that the safety of the arrangement for getting cars and people in and out of the school has been raised before.
Parents bring children to and from school have to walk through the car parking area to reach the entrance.
He also called the volume of traffic using the school car park "a very dangerous situation."
But Alun Williams, deputy chair of the school's governors, said the safety issue was not necessarily any worse than at any other school.
"We certainly have been aware of issues when parents have been coming into that area," he said.
"But I am sure any school in any urban area has a congestion of school buses, of children, of parents taking their cars as near as possible to the gates of the school." 
 
A boy of 14 was stabbed and left for dead near his school gates. Police said he got into a row outside of the school. He is poorly but stable.
In another incident a youth was jailed for 3 years for blinding a 15 year old boy in one eye. The incident took place within a school.
 
£55,000 chip slip. A teacher forced to quit her job after slipping on a chip awarded £55,000.00 damages. The incident happened whilst the teacher was walking down a ramp near the schools dinning hall. 
In summing up the judge  insisted that the school should have been more aware of the design of the ramp and the real possibility of spillage. He continued: "It would have been reasonable practicable to do so by installing a non slip type of flooring on the ramp and instituting a system of giving priority to the cleaning of the ramp. "Had they done so the accident would probably not happened."
 
A private school has been fined £15,000 after a 12-year-old boy caught fire during a chemistry lesson.
Norwich School admitted three health and safety breaches but was cleared of a fourth at Norwich Crown Court.The boy spent 12 days in a specialist burns unit and needed skin grafts after he caught fire reaching over a candle during an experiment two years ago.
On Thursday Recorder Ian Foster directed the jury to return a not guilty verdict on the fourth charge.
Prosecutors at Norwich Crown Court had said they could not prove beyond reasonable doubt the charge of failing to carry out a risk assessment for the experiment. The £8000-a-year school was fined after admitting failure to make suitable and sufficient risk assessment regarding dangers to staff.
It also accepted staff had failed to assess risks to pupils and the school had failed to ensure employees had health and safety training repeated to them often enough - particularly fire precautions. The school was also ordered to pay £15,000 towards the prosecution costs.
 
Workers were exposed to deadly asbestos at a primary school, Blackpool magistrates heard on 3 August.


They fined Blackpool Council £15,000 for breaching s3(1) of HSWA 1974 in not ensuring the safety of non-employees at the school, after it pleaded guilty to the charge. The HSE was awarded its full costs of £1946.

The court heard that on 15 April 2004, the council had been replacing kitchen equipment at St Cuthbert’s Primary School in Blackpool. Although a full asbestos survey had been carried out, it had not been passed on to the contractors, in a "breakdown of communication," according to investigating and prosecuting HSE inspector, Allen Shute.

Drilling had taken place during the insertion of electrical cabling into the ceiling by contractors, which disturbed asbestos insulation board that had been clearly identified in the survey. Work was stopped when the council was notified of the asbestos and a specialist contractor brought in.

The Council said in mitigation that it had put in a new system for dealing with asbestos since being served an improvement notice in September 2000.

"The council was normally very good in dealing with asbestos but on this occasion it went wrong. It was once too often," inspector Shute told SHP.
 
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Safety call after teacher payouts
A teachers' union wants health and safety rules reviewed after winning hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation for three members.
A special needs teacher in south Wales won £250,000 for back injuries, and a craft teacher in Lancashire £130,000 for asthma caused by wood dust.
A Bristol reading tutor was awarded £14,000 after a bookshelf fell on her.
Their union, the NASUWT, said guidelines on working conditions had not been clear.
'Cold comfort'
Its general secretary, Chris Keates, said: "How many more teachers will have to become too ill to work and their expertise be lost to the profession before all employers take their responsibility for the welfare of their employees seriously?"
"Compensation is cold comfort when you can no longer do the job you loved and your health is damaged."
The union declined to name the teachers or schools involved.
A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said it placed great importance on the health, safety and well-being of the school workforce.
"We continue to work closely w ith the Health and Safety Executive on disseminating good management practice and are committed to supporting employers in providing safe and appropriate working conditions."
The compensation awards will have come from schools' insurers, rather than out of their normal budgets.
The NASUWT advises its members to avoid taking children on school trips - for fear of being sued if things go wrong.
Renewing its guidance last year, it said: "In an increasingly litigious society which no longer appears to accept the concept of a genuine accident, our first responsibility must be to protect our members' interests."
 
 
Defendant
 
Summary
Employees exposed to the risk of asbestos fibres by virtue of: failure to identify type(s) of asbestos to which employees were liable to be exposed; failure to determine the nature and degree of exposure which might have occurred in the course of work; failure to set out the steps to be taken to prevent or reduce to the lowest level reasonably practicable that exposure
 
Offence Date
 29/10/1999
 
Total Fine
 £14,000.00
Total Costs Awarded to HSE
£7,390.60
 
Defendant
 
Summary
Chef employed by catering contractor in school kitchen tripped on defective (damaged) floor covering and fell striking head on steel table, suffered head injury and unconsciousness. Damage present and known to school for up to 7 months (although risk varied over time), school failed to take suitable remedial action. Breach of Reg 12 of Workplace (H,S&W) Regs.
 
Offence Date
 14/04/2004
 
Total Fine
 £5,000.00
Total Costs Awarded to HSE
£2,936.00
 
Defendant
 
Summary
Failure to ensure that a partially sighted pupil was not exposed to risks whilst using an access ramp whereby pupil fell into an open manhole and suffered serious leg injuries and failure to undertake a suitable and sufficient assessment..
 
Offence Date
 29/08/2002
 
Total Fine
 £5,000.00
Total Costs Awarded to HSE
£0.00
 
Defendant
 
Summary
Uncontrolled release of Amosite asbestos from kitchen ceiling at St Cuthberts RC Primary School, Blackpool during refurbishment.
 
Offence Date
 15/04/2004
 
Total Fine
 £15,000.00
Total Costs Awarded to HSE
£1,946.00
 
Defendant
 
Summary
Contractors installed overhead projectors into asbestos ceilings. No information re asbestos known to school and therefore none given to contractors.
 
Offence Date
 18/03/2003
 
Total Fine
 £8,000.00
Total Costs Awarded to HSE
£5,894.60
 
Defendant
 
Summary
Section 3(1) of Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Eleri Davies a pupil at Cwmllynfell T.W. Primary School fell into the sink of a Santon sterilizing unit containing very hot water. Eleri sustained burns from the back of her knees up to her waist. Unit was 30 years old, located in school hall, was left unattended for long periods and access to the sink was only prevented by a thin metal sheet which was not designed to support persons from falling onto it. Use of the sink had been inadequately risk assessed. After the incident it was replaced by a dishwasher. Prosecution proposed as Neath Port Talbot CBC (as dutyholder) failed to prevent injury to persons not in their employment.
 
Offence Date
 08/07/2003
 
Total Fine
 £10,000.00
Total Costs Awarded to HSE
£2,618.00
 
Defendant
 
Summary
26/6/2003 Ratho Primary school held an excursion to the East Beach at North Berwick a Primary 1 pupil was found unconscious in water by 2 other teachers from a different school. Councils procedures had not been followed; event not risk assessed and that adequate control measures not implemented to allow event to be run in a safe manner.
 
Offence Date
 26/06/2003
 
Total Fine
 £3,500.00
Total Costs Awarded to HSE
£0.00
 
Defendant
 
Summary
Accused is the Head Teacher at Ratho Primary School. Incident occurred at beach at North Berwick where Primary 1 pupil was found unconcious in water by 2 teachers from another school. Head Teacher had specific responsibilities under Council's procedures
 
Offence Date
 26/06/2003
 
Total Fine
 £750.00
Total Costs Awarded to HSE
£0.00
 
Defendant
 
Summary
IP fell off the flat roof (2m) unto a 1m high retaining wall. No risk assessments completed before work begun, edge protection not used. Roofing work was ongoing for 8days. No general risk assessments for premises work. case heard at crawley magistrates on 18/08/04. Guilty Plea. MHSWR 1999 Reg 3 fine £1000.00 CHSW 1996 Reg 6 (1) fine £1000.00
 
Offence Date
 24/07/2002
 
Total Fine
 £2,000.00
Total Costs Awarded to HSE
£1,250.00
 
Defendant
 
Summary
IP suffered serious injuries from a toppled Edwards Box & Pan Folder machine whilst the machine was being moved to a new location within the same department. IP was "employed" as a technician by Blackpool & The Fylde College.
 
Offence Date
 01/07/2002
 
Total Fine
 £7,500.00
Total Costs Awarded to HSE
£6,127.00
 
Defendant
 
Summary
Breach of HSW S 3(1). Gamekeeping student shot in head during clay pigeon shoot. Poor management control of the event, including failure to follow explict safety guidance from the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association.
 
Offence Date
 07/03/2002
 
Total Fine
 £7,000.00
Total Costs Awarded to HSE
£5,000.00
 
DOCK SMIRK OF GUILTY STAB GIRL
A SCHOOLGIRL who nearly blinded a fellow pupil when she stabbed her in the eye with a pair of scissors smirked in the dock yesterday as she was found guilty of wounding with intent to cause GBH and told she faces being locked up.
A two-and-a-half week trial was told the girl's victim - also 15 - had been subject to years of bullying at school which culminated in the frenzied assault.
The attacker plunged the blades five times into her head and back after earlier taunting her as they queued for lunch. Two of her friends, also both 15, are accused of perverting justice by throwing the scissors over a fence following the attack at the school in Surrey.
Following the guilty verdict, Judge John Crocker ordered a pre-sentence report and released the girl on bail. But he said: "I want her to be under no illusions she has been convicted of a very serious offence. I don't want anyone to think anything other than a custodial sentence would be appropriate."

 

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School bus driver checks warning
There have been more than a dozen cases in the UK in the last three years where school bus drivers have sexually abused children, the BBC has learned.
In one case, where a school bus driver admitted sexually assaulting a girl, 12, it emerged he had two previous convictions for indecent exposure.
The DVLA may now introduce criminal checks for all UK bus drivers.
The Real Story programme also found that spot checks had revealed more than 140 school buses with safety defects.
Victim groomed
In June 2005, Alan Johnson, 57, from Newton Heath, Manchester, was sentenced to 12 months in prison for sexually assaulting the girl on his bus.
Minshull Street Crown Court heard how he used his bus to groom his victim, befriending the young passenger over six months before indecently assaulting her.
Bus company Belle Vue Manchester said it would not have taken Johnson on had it known of his criminal record.
It said some checks had been carried out on Johnson - who worked for the company for 12 years - but they had not picked up his convictions for indecent exposure in 1974 and 1984.
Bosses admitted Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) checks were only carried out on new employees but said that, in the future, the checks would be carried out on all drivers.
At the moment, checking the criminal records of a school bus driver is not compulsory with some local authorities making no checks at all.
Other councils check minibus drivers but not those driving larger school buses.
And some councils only check drivers if they know they will be left alone with children.
'Unanswered question'
Diane Newell, of independent child protection organisation RWA, called for the introduction of compulsory checks of bus drivers.
"A job like a school bus driver would be an ideal job if you were interested in sexually molesting children because of the obvious access to children," she told BBC News.
"Without these checks there's always going to be an unanswered question as to who exactly are driving our children to school."
A spokesman for DVLA said that, as a result of the Real Story programme findings, it was now considering introducing criminal record checks for all bus drivers before they could get a licence.
The programme, to be broadcast on Monday night, also found that more than 140 school buses - often provided by private companies - had been found with safety defects after spot checks were carried out by the police and vehicle inspectors on nearly 600 buses in the UK.
Common problems included bald tyres, and defective brakes, steering and headlights.
Thirty-six were considered so dangerous they were taken off the road immediately.
Head of the National Roads Policing Intelligence Forum, Chief Supt Geraint Anwyl, told the programme it was only a matter of time before there was a serious accident caused by a defective school bus.
"Our most precious cargo are the schoolchildren of this country and they're travelling in an ageing fleet of buses," he said.
"And as these buses get older, then of course the likelihood of there being more offences on those vehicles increases."
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Council fined £12,000 after teacher is injured by unguarded machinery
 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council has been fined £12,000 after an employee suffered hand injuries from an unguarded saw.
 The incident happened on 18 April 2005 when Steven Walsh, a technician in the design technology department at Counthill community school, was cutting some plywood sheets down for a student.
 Walsh's duties included cutting materials for pupils on equipment that they would not themselves be allowed to use and cleaning and maintaining work equipment including tools and benches.
 Not noticing that the machine's guard was missing, Walsh cut through the plywood and as he lent over to turn the saw off with his right hand his left hand came in to contact with the unguarded spinning blade causing cuts to the first and second fingers on his left hand.
Enquiries revealed that prior to Walsh's accident the saw had been used by another teacher at the school, who had removed the guard in order to cut a groove in a pupil's work piece. After he had completed his task he turned the saw off but failed to replace the guard.
 The HSE's investigation revealed that Walsh had not received any training in the use and maintenance of woodworking machinery since he had joined the school in January 2004. The other teacher, who joined the school in 1980, had not received any further training since that time - a period of 25 years.
Oldham Council was fined £12,000 with costs of £4,884 at Trafford Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to a charge under Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 in that it failed to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the health and safety of its employees, including Steven Walsh.
 The role of the Council as employer involves overall and ultimate responsibility for health and safety in all its controlled schools.
 The accident at Counthill alerted the HSE to the Council's failings and the charges reflect the failing of the LEA to impose, monitor and enforce a uniform safe system of work and minimum levels of training across its controlled schools as a whole rather than in one isolated school.
 Following the accident the HSE served an Improvement Notice upon Oldham Council that required it to:
 review and revise it's risk assessments relating to the use of work equipment in the design technology department of its schools; ensure that all users of work equipment have appropriate information instruction and training in use of that equipment; and develop a means of ensuring that risks are being properly controlled and preventative measures applied.
The Council has subsequently taken significant action to meet its obligations:
 A circular was sent out on 13 May 2005 to all controlled schools highlighting the need to undertake suitable and sufficient risk assessments and stating that it was essential that all machinery be fitted with appropriate guards and fences at all times and requiring schools to ensure that staff using machinery were suitably trained and deemed competent (including refresher training).
Steps were taken to ensure that all resistant materials teachers and design technology technicians received adequate instructions and training in the use of all workshop machinery.
Risk assessments were reviewed and revised and a new audit system was implemented to monitor receipt of risk assessments.
A formal safe system of work was implemented and communicated to all staff.
Clear instructions were issued in relation to the use of the circular saw.
Schools were required to identify training issues at the interview stage and training needs are now to be reviewed on an annual basis.
 
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Work experience youth severely injured using broaching drill  
Malcolm Robinson, trading as Metalfab Engineering in Rochester, Kent, was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £4,043 at Chatham Magistrates Court for breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. 
The prosecution followed an investigation by the Health & Safety Executive into an incident that occurred in March 2005 when a young person was using a broaching drill to drill holes in a steel plate. His glove or sleeve was pulled into the machine.
 The young person was on work experience at the time and suffered five breaks to the left arm and fingers, his ulna and radius were shattered, he had a hairline fracture to his elbow and forefinger and his ring finger broken.
 Caroline Penwill, HM Inspector of Health and Safety, said: "This prosecution highlights the need for employers to ensure the risks to young people at work are properly assessed and controlled.
 “Young people such as work experience students are likely to be inexperienced in the work environment and unaware of health and safety risks. Employers must provide adequate instruction and training, and check that it has been understood. Young people are likely to need more supervision than adults, and the employer must ensure that this is provided."
 
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KIDS' BUS NEAR MISS WITH TRAIN
24/05/2007
A SCHOOL bus driver carrying 50 pupils narrowly missed a train when he ignored a red light and went over a level crossing.
Horrified children screamed out in terror as they spotted the engine tearing towards them.
Cheryl Rolland, mother of 11-year-old twins Jessica and Daniel, said: "The kids shouted at the driver that he could have killed them but he ignored them and just carried on."
The driver is now facing possible prosecution for the drama involving pupils from Farlingaye High School in Woodbridge, Suffolk, on Friday.
The council has already banned him and stripped bus operator the Running Footman of Martlesham of its contract for the route.
Network Rail said: "It could have been fatal."
The Running Footman refused to comment.
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Failure to manage asbestos at school leads to big fines for three parties
A Northampton electrical contractor, a sub-contracted Bedford asbestos removal firm, and its managing director have been fined a total of £100,000 plus costs of £45,000 after asbestos was released into the air at a girls’ school in Kettering, forcing it to close for two terms.

Northampton Crown Court heard on 4 April that the electrical system at Southfield School was in the process of being upgraded by main contractor Briggs and Forrester Electrical during the 2003 summer holidays. The work necessitated the removal of some asbestos ceiling tiles, “a notifiable type of work that was not notified”, according to HSE inspector, Richard Lockwood, who investigated the case.

“The work was not done under properly controlled conditions,” he told SHP. “Essentially the tiles were just broken and thrown down all over the place.” Monitoring by an independent analyst, after the school administrator saw the tiles on her return following the summer holidays, confirmed that asbestos had been released into the air in the process of the tiles’ removal.

The school was closed for two terms and 1000 pupils had to be relocated to temporary classrooms and sites around Kettering while it was gutted and refitted. “The destruction to the school was enormous,” explained Lockwood. “Art coursework had to be destroyed as contaminated waste, while all computers, carpets and paperwork, including course notes and teachers’ notes, had to be disposed of. It caused a lot of stress problems within the school, and cost £6.5 million.” A civil case to recover the costs is in place.

All three parties pleaded guilty to all the charges. Briggs and Forrester was fined £30,000 on each charge of contravening s2(1) and s3(1) of HSWA 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of both employees and non-employees. It was ordered to pay full HSE costs of £30,000.

Sub-contractor B & W Asbestos Removal Specialists was also fined £15,000 on each charge for breaches of s2(1) and 3(1) of HSWA and told to pay a contribution to costs of £10,000. It also breached reg. 3(1) of the Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations 1983 by failing to notify asbestos removal work, and reg. 6 (1) of the Control of Asbestos at Work (CAW) Regulations 2002 by failing to plan the removal. No further penalties were imposed for these charges by the judge.

B & W’s managing director, Marcus Buckle, was fined £5000 on each charge and ordered to pay full costs of £5000 after reg. 3(1) of the Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations and reg. 6 (1) of CAW were breached with his consent or connivance, or were attributable to his neglect.

Briggs and Forrester said in mitigation that the specialist contractors it had hired to undertake the asbestos removal work had let it down. It has since rectified its procedures.

B & W Asbestos Removal Specialists said in mitigation that much of the damage had been caused by the people working for the main contractors. “We can’t say exactly where the blame lay, except that both firms had a problem,” inspector Lockwood said.

Marcus Buckle cited personal issues at home as his mitigation, in that he had been forced to delegate some of the work and was unable to fully supervise it.
A headteacher has been ordered to pay £20,000 in fines and legal costs after a three-year-old boy fell down steps at his school.
Kian Williams, of Bethesda, described by teachers in court as "lively and energetic", died in August 2004 after jumping down four steps while pretending to be Batman.
He had been playing in an out of bounds area at Hillgrove private school in Bangor, Gwynedd. An inquest into Kian's death in February 2005 recorded a verdict of accidental death.
Although he broke no bones during the accident, Kian suffered swelling to the brain and later died in Alder Hey Children's Hospital, from a MRSA strain of pneumonia.
Earlier this year, headteacher James Porter was found guilty by an 11-1 majority jury verdict of failing to do enough to make the school steps safe, breaching health and safety rules.
Porter was fined £12,500 at Mold Crown Court on Friday and also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £7,500.

 

Scotland's education authorities and educational establishments have paid out over a quarter of a million pounds in compensation and legal expenses as a result of industrial accidents or attacks against teaching staff in the last 12 months. The £500,000 comprises over £180,000 in compensation to claimants, with the remainder being the estimated legal costs to employers.
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) General Secretary, Ronnie Smith, said, “The figure of a quarter of a million pounds paid out as a result of injuries to EIS members over the past year is extremely worrying. The number of incidents remains far too high and the amount of compensation paid out is actually up slightly on last year. This shows that more still needs to be done in our schools, colleges and universities to ensure the safety and wellbeing of teaching staff. All employers, including schools and colleges, must take the health and safety of their employees seriously.”
Mr Smith highlighted the growing number of cases arising from psychiatric injury; “Occupational stress is a major problem facing teachers and lecturers. The growth in the number of cases involving psychiatric injury and stress-related illness should provide a stark warning to employers that they must take account of their employees' mental, as well as physical, wellbeing.
“Employers should be using the Health and Safety Executive's management standards to work with the EIS at local authority and educational establishment level to reduce the impact of occupational stress. Stress-related illness and other injuries to mental health are extremely serious and can take a huge toll on the individual concerned. The long-term effects can be significant, and recovery can take an extremely long period of time.
Moving on to discuss other types of case over the last year, Mr Smith said, “Nevertheless, the figures on compensation claims held by the EIS show that the biggest risk to teachers and lecturers in the workplace continues to be through slips, trips or falls. Many of these incidents result in injuries with potentially serious and long-lasting consequences.
“While these are the most common hazards in the workplace, they are also among the most easily avoided by compliance with health and safety law and observing Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance. Removing slip, trip and fall hazards would improve safety not just for teaching staff, but also for pupils, students and visitors to establishments who also have a clear right to expect a safe environment.”
Mr Smith continued, “While many of the accidents which happen in our schools and colleges could be avoided by proper application of correct procedures, the issue of assaults on teaching staff cannot be solved so readily. Teachers, in common with many other public service workers, are far too often on the receiving end of assaults in the course of their work. Employers have a duty to assess and minimise the risk facing teachers, and also to send a clear message that all violent conduct – physical or verbal – will not be tolerated.
“Quite apart from the cost to educational establishments – and thus the taxpayer – in legal fees and in settling claims for compensation, we must also consider the hidden costs in these cases. These would include personal costs to the individual concerned through their pain and suffering, as well as the effects on their personal and home life. Much of this could be avoided if employers took health and safety matters more seriously and ensured that correct procedures were followed at all times.”
Some examples of the awards made in 2007 are:
 
  • PE teacher, voice loss due to environmental/acoustic conditions - £8,000
  • Teacher caused psychiatric injury as a result of being prosecuted following false allegations and the lack of support from his employer - £38,000
  • Teacher suffered injury to shoulder when hit by a cupboard door which fell off its hinges - £3,000
  • Teacher tripped on loose carpet, lower back injuries - £9,000
  • Teacher injured back following collapse of piano chair - £1,500
  • Slip on litter in stairwell, injuries to knee - £750
  • Teacher suffered psychiatric injury following assault, £2,000 CICA interim award
  • Fall from ladder during preparations for school play, fractured leg - £10,000
  • Tripped over school bag, facial injuries and detached retina - £5,000
  • Slipped on wet floor, injuries to back and shoulder - £3,500
  • Hit on head by falling object, Post Concussion Syndrome - £10,000
  • Teacher inured leg on table, inadequate working space, sustained haematoma to thigh - £2,500
  • Teacher sustained shoulder injury due to moving gym equipment - £11,500
  • Teacher punched in face, suffered fractured cheekbone and broken nose - £2,300
24 July 2008
 
School teachers are exposed to increasing liability risks
Gone are the days when schools offered children opportunities to get out into the world and experience a variety of enriching activities. Instead, many are cutting back on the number of school trips they organise for fear of the potential risks they pose to pupils' welfare.

Teachers' responsibilities and legal liabilities have recently been put under the spotlight. But is this merely the product of a blame culture, or, having entrusted their children in the hands of their teachers, are parents right to take such action when something goes wrong?

In September last year, the 66-year old head teacher of a private school in Wales was ordered to pay £20,000 for breaking health and safety laws following an incident in which a child fell from some steps and eventually died in hospital. The court heard how the young pupil, three-year-old Kian Williams, had been playing on the steps at the time and had jumped.

Kian died in August 2004 after contracting MRSA – a month after his initial accident. The jury were told that Kian and his fellow kindergarten pupils were not supervised while on the steps and the responsibility for these failings was laid squarely at the feet of the school's head teacher and owner.

Risk versus responsibility

Speaking to the BBC, The Health and Safety Executive’s principal inspector Steve Scott later stated that play was ‘absolutely essential’ to developing children.

"This case is not about restricting play for children at school, nor should head teachers be concerned that this case means they will face enforcement action as a result of everyday incidents which often happen to children," he said.

Despite Mr Scott's reassurances, the case highlighted that teachers and schools could be forced to defend themselves in the wake of such incidents, which could potentially have a significant impact upon the future of liability insurance if schools and their Local Educations Authorities come under increasing pressure.

According to Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, high-profile cases, such as the tragic incident at Lyme Bay, Dorset in 1993 when four sixth form students died while on a canoeing trip, have brought into sharp focus the responsibilities of teachers and the education establishment generally.

Such events, he notes, may have prompted something of a shift in how schools deal with liability.

However, Malcom Tarling of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) suggests that risk isn't necessarily a negative thing. ”People do need to take risks, especially [as] part of the education process - you learn by taking risks – but those risks have to be managed."

Managing the risk

The risks facing schools in terms of liability are large and varied, and comprehensive insurance cover is crucial. Ecclesiastical Insurance provides bespoke coverage to schools, which includes elements such as school trips and activities. Lindsay Gray, Senior Underwriter at Ecclesiastical says:

"Public liability insurance provides important protection in today’s litigious world.” Gray stresses that schools should look carefully at their policies to ensure that the cover they purchase meets their requirements and that they are aware of where liability may be excluded. He also says that comprehensive risk management by schools will help inspire confidence in insurers.

Compensation culture?

So if taking risks is part of growing up, can parents really blame schools for accidents involving their children? Are we, as a society, simply seeking to make a claim when things go wrong?

According to Foulsham, the number of cases involving schools in the UK has increased in recent years – particularly as a number of high-profile incidents have attracted media attention.

For insurance brokers, however, tailoring products to the needs of schools – particularly within the independent sector – could be one area of growth in such a climate. Foulsham explains: “Although there are a number of specialists within this field, lots of insurers still ‘shy away’ from this area of the market.”

Foulsham feels that there are two reasons for this reluctance: a lack of knowledge and a fear factor. When you have a lot of minors together in the same place, the risks are heightened, as is the potential for large claims. Foulsham’s advice for schools is to discuss their needs with a specialist broker and ensure they have the correct type of protection.

However, Lindsay Gray explains that insurers familiar with school business support them to plan trips and events and they won’t be surprised when schools explain the activity they want to organise.
 
It is estimated that schools and colleges in England organise more than one million trips a year. Bearing this in mind, injuries sustained during these trips are few and fatalities very rare. Only a tiny number of negligence actions are taken against teachers/lecturers.
However, personal liability for the health and safety of students on school or college trips concerns ATL members more than any other issue, and press reports of accidents and deaths on trips always serve to heighten this concern. 
The issue of liability must be kept in perspective however. ATL believes that, provided members exercise reasonable care and follow their employer’s instructions and policies, they will not be held liable on the rare occasions when an accident occurs. 
When negligence is alleged, the case will nearly always be taken against the employer, who is vicariously liable and carries insurance for third party liability. Claims are seldom brought against individuals and, if individual employees are sued, they may bring in their employer as a co-defendant. 
Some employers provide a specific indemnity, which protects staff against any liability if a claim is made against them personally, but this is not always the case.School journey insurance policies will normally provide staff arranging a trip with adequate indemnity against individual liability for an accident. ATL also offers its members comprehensive protection against claims for negligence in the course of their professional duties or related voluntary activities. 
Nonetheless, it is essential for group leaders to obtain approval for the trip from their employer first, be it the LEA, the governors, the proprietor or the trustees. Group leaders must also ensure that they do nothing to jeopardise their insurance cover – by driving off-road, for example – if their policy does not cover such activities. 
The courts do not rush to find schools/colleges and teachers/lecturers negligent – they accept that accidents do happen. However, schools and colleges must show that they have taken reasonable steps to plan trips thoroughly and assess and control risks, and individual teachers/lecturers must demonstrate that their responses to an incident were within the range of the reasonable responses of a parent. 
Simon Chittock v Woodbridge School 
In 2002, an important case highlighted the importance of ongoing risk assessment once a trip is underway. Here, the risk arose from the behaviour of a student. 
Simon Chittock was one of three sixth formers who joined a skiing party of younger boys. He had some skiing experience and his parents agreed he could ski unsupervised, although under the general supervision of the teachers. The courts found that the group leader had a duty to take reasonable care of the safety of all the students and the decision to let the three boys ski alone depended on their demonstrating mature and responsible behaviour. 
However, on the trip the three boys were involved in three incidents that raised questions about how far they could be trusted to behave maturely and responsibly: smoking with younger boys; skiing off-piste in error and then (despite warnings from the group leader) skiing off-piste deliberately. 
As a consequence of his behaviour, Simon Chittock was given a reprimand and the group leader threatened to take away his ski pass. The day after the last incident, he was skiing on a run – judged to be within in his capability – but travelled too fast, ignored warning signs and fell. He was seriously disabled as a result of this accident. 
The school and the group leader were sued. The first court did not fault the planning of the trip or the arrangement to allow the three boys greater freedom. However, it decided that although Simon Chittock did contribute to his accident by skiing irresponsibly, the accident would not have happened if the group leader had removed his ski pass in response to evidence of his disobedience. 
The Court of Appeal overturned the decision. It decided that a reprimand and threat to remove the ski pass had been within a reasonable range of responses and the group leader had been entitled to accept assurances from the student that he would follow the rules. It concluded that the accident could have happened at any time.
 
 
TWENTY-FIVE children were injured in a pile-up in a school corridor triggered when a first-year pupil stopped to pick up her shoe.
 
Paramedics were called to the school to treat pupils for crush injuries, including ankle sprains, bruising and sore heads.

All the children were sent home following the incident, several were taken to hospital and five were kept off school the following day.

Stephen Miller, headteacher at Denny High School in Falkirk, said that investigations were ongoing into the incident, which happened outside the school library after morning break on Tuesday.

He insisted the corridors were supervised by both staff and senior pupils who had rushed to give immediate assistance.

He said: "It would appear that the cause of the crush was an innocent and accidental trip by a pupil, who paused to retrieve a shoe but was overtaken by the mass of following pupils unaware that there was a problem ahead.

"In the main, the injuries were soft-tissue damage, ankle sprains, dizziness and sore heads," said Mr Miller.

He added that all the injured were assessed by either a paramedic or a doctor who attended the incident.

"Parents and carers were then immediately notified and the majority of pupils were taken home as a result," the headteacher said. "A few were advised to attend hospital to check the extent of bruises and sprains."

A spokeswoman for Falkirk District council confirmed that the corridor had been supervised at the time and the crush was a freak accident.

A senior pupil at the school, which has 1,250 students, said: "The corridor was really busy, and people just kept walking, and they started to pile up.

"It was just a horrible accident, but I think the worst thing was the shock.

"We were helping the people who had been injured, and at one point it was like the scene in The Wizard of Oz when the witch is trapped underneath the house."

Denny High School is housed in a 1960s building, but staff and pupils are expected to relocate next year to a new building, which is currently under construction.

A council spokeswoman said that there was no design fault with the existing building and that the corridors are not particularly narrow.

Judith Gillespie, development manager of the Scottish Parent Teacher, said: "You don't expect it. Parents would be amazed, but these freak accidents do happen.

"And I would imagine there was some jostling at the back.

"It is very bizarre, and you can't ever legislate for the bizarre."

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: "This was a significant incident in which children were injured.

"It is a timely reminder that a culture of safe thinking and safe behaviour in schools should be encouraged and subject to regular reminders.

"Young people in particular can be overcome with the excitement of the moment, and the consequences of such an event as this arising can be disproportionate to what started it."

A building project which is costing £115 million will replace the existing St Mungo's, Grangemouth, Denny and Falkirk High schools.

 

TWO local school buses were put off the road by police for failing safety checks.
One of the buses was from Stirling and the other from Clackmannanshire.
A spokesperson for Stirling Council said: “The safety of children travelling on school buses is paramount and all of our bus providers are required to submit their vehicles for ongoing safety checks.
“We are speaking to Central Scotland Police to ascertain exactly what the issue was with this one bus and will contact the operator concerned to address any problems.”
A Clackmannanshire Council spokesperson said: “Children’s safety is a priority for the council and we take measures to ensure the companies contracted to provide school transport meet the highest standards.
“We are aware of the incident involving a minor defect on one bus at a secondary school and staff are currently investigating the circumstances.”
Police also checked buses taking school trips to Blair Drummond Safari Park and put nine of those off the road too.
Nineteen other drivers were given time to have mechanical defects repaired and 36 drivers received prohibitions for working in excess of their hours.
Chief Inspector Donald McMillan, head of the force’s road policing unit, said: “We have carried out these checks here for over ten years. Officers at the scene receive the full support of teachers and staff at the safari park.
“It never fails to surprise me the number of buses that have mechanical faults which may result in the vehicle being involved in a collision.
“They are generally carrying 50-80 children each and the consequences could prove horrendous.
“The defects included rear emergency doors being locked, steering defects, loose seats, insecure trapdoors, braking defects, tyre defects and defective bodywork.”
He added: “Those vehicles dealt with were immediately put off the road or required to have repairs carried out with undue delay.
“The majority of these buses are old and give the appearance of having been brought of stock to facilitate the annual school trip.”
CI McMillan said further checks on school buses will take place.
He said: “We want to reassure parents that we do everything we can, along with VOSA, to make sure their children are travelling to and from school on buses that are completely roadworthy. We will continue to address this.”

 

COUNCILS across Wales face at least £1m in compensation claims for accidents and injuries in schools and on school trips, figures obtained by the Western Mail reveal today.
In the past three years they have paid out more than £154,000 in insurance claims for accident, injury and loss, but their estimates show a potential £994,900 may be added to the bill once all the claims are settled. And that figure could be even higher as some councils say they cannot predict what the final pay-outs might be.
Despite warnings from teaching unions that pupils are increasingly likely to take action, no figures on compensation are held either by the Welsh Assembly Government or the Welsh Local Government Association.
Details obtained from individual authorities by the Western Mail under the Freedom of Information Act show that claims against schools in the past three years range from stolen mobile phones to pupils being hit by cars.
In one case a student teacher is claiming £5,000 from Neath Port Talbot Council after being hit on the head while breaking up a fight.
The same council is also facing an £8,000 claim from a pupil who broke an ankle after stumbling on a three-inch Lego brick and £1,000 from a child knocked down crossing the road after getting off a bus. The claim says the accident happened because there was “no supervision from the school”.
Neath Port Talbot is also facing a £10,000 claim from an administration assistant who broke her leg after catching her foot on a desk leg.
Claims against Newport County Council include one from a pupil who had to have the tip of a finger amputated after a door closed on it. Others include one from a primary pupil injured on a slide during a trip and one from a pupil who broke a wrist during a games lesson.
Teaching unions say teachers are increasingly unwilling to arrange school trips because of the risk of claims from pupils. One, NASUWT, has even advised its members not to do school trips. The NUT, however, said they were a vital part of education and it had advised its members to continue to do them as long as all relevant safety checks were made.
Details from council insurers make clear that some people seek damages for petty reasons.
Torfaen County Council said among the claims where its schools were not found to be liable included one from an adult visitor who tripped on a kerb, claiming it was not easy to see.
Another adult visitor to a Torfaen school tried to get compensation for stumbling on a “speed retarder”, such as a road hump, claiming that it could not be seen.
Peter Durkin, Torfaen’s corporate director for resources, said, “Schools have systems in place to protect pupils, staff and visitors which are effective, as is shown by the low number of claims we have received and the success in defending those claims that are made. Schools carry out risk assessments before they take pupils on trips away to identify any hazards and actions to be taken to eliminate or reduce them.”
Anglesey County Council said it is facing a £25,000 bill for an accident on a school trip in 2006 and £21,000 for two accidents during sports and games at schools in the past three years. In total Anglesey has paid out £800 in compensation since 2005, but estimates it has £92,900 outstanding.
Cardiff has spent £74,700 in both compensation pay-outs and legal fees in the past three years.
Claims thrown out by insurers include Tipp-Ex spilt on trousers, an earring lost on a rugby field and stolen mobile phones.
 

 

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Systems failed on day 14-year-old died under upturned boat during exercise

 

A senior officer responsible for the Army Cadet Force pledged yesterday that the Army would do its “utmost” to implement the recommendations of a fatal accident inquiry into the death of a 14-year-old Aberdeenshire schoolgirl.

Colonel David Tobey, 52, conceded that the system failed on August 3 last year when Kaylee McIntosh, of Camaloun Road, Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, died after becoming trapped under a capsized powerboat in Loch Carnan, South Uist.

No proper risk assessment was carried out for the training exercise. Kaylee and other cadets wore the wrong lifejackets, and the boat went out despite bad forecasts.

The inquiry heard Kaylee was wearing the wrong type of lifejacket on the day and this may have hampered her escape from under the boat. It was designed for a fully equipped soldier and banned for use by cadets.

Previously, the inquiry heard the training safety adviser did not know about the exercise on August 3 and had to cover a second battalion's camp in southern England.

Col Tobey said he regarded cadet executive officer Major George McCallum, who organised the exercise and was coxswain of Kaylee's boat, as sufficiently qualified to carry out the exercise that day. But he later conceded there may be a question mark over his qualifications.

 
 
Activity centre fined following 8-year-old’s fall

An activity centre in Norfolk has been fined following an incident in which an 8-year-old child was injured after falling six metres from a climbing wall.

On 28 April 2007, eight-year-old Mickey Carter-Browne was injured during a school trip to the Kingswood Activity Centre at West Runton. He fell six metres from a climbing wall, sustaining a broken ankle and bruising to his pelvis, upper leg, left ankle and arms.

The incident occurred when Mickey reached a height of about six metres on the climbing wall. A click was heard, and he fell onto the wooden floor below. The HSE investigation identified that when the karabiner (metal loop) was attached to the harness, the screw had not been tightened, which allowed the karabiner to open when a load was applied.

The investigation also found that the training and supervision procedures at the centre were not sufficient for the activities being carried out, and were not being routinely followed on the ground.

At Cromer Magistrates Court on 15 August, Norwich-based Kingswood Learning and Leisure (Group) Limited was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £10,690 costs having pleading guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

HSE Inspector, Steve Gill, said: “This was an unfortunate incident which could have been prevented had the correct safety procedures been followed, and the staff undertaking the activities had been properly trained and supervised. Instead, a child was injured and spent ten weeks in plaster, largely confined to a wheelchair, and another ten weeks on crutches.

“HSE firmly believes that children must have the opportunity to participate in adventurous activities such as climbing, which are fun, healthy and provide experience and education in risk management. Statistically, one incident does not alter the good track record of an overall safe and well-managed sector.”

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Girl stabs teacher and gets off with warning

Thug let-off sparks fury

A pupil stormed into a school and beat up and stabbed a teacher - but she was only given a police caution.

The female maths teacher, who the girl blamed for getting her expelled, had to go to hospital for her injuries after the frenzied attack in front of shocked students.

The girl of 14, who cannot be named, kicked and punched the woman to the ground and carried on the assault as she lay there.

Then she stabbed her face with a marker pen before using it to scrawl on her.

Two male members of staff had to drag the teenager off the teacher, who had serious bruising to her face and cuts to her legs. The pupil is understood to have been furious at her expulsion after she was accused of trying to steal the same teacher's keys and mobile phone.

A girl of 15, who witnessed the incident, said: "The door flew open and she ran at the teacher. It was horrible.

"That girl is a complete psycho but really strong. She was on top of the teacher - no one could do anything."

But amazingly when police were called, the student - a known troublemaker - was issued with only a caution after the incident last Friday at the Westwood Language College in Upper Norwood, South London. Police said: "A girl was arrested for assault.

After a thorough investigation, she was given a final warning for this offence." A parent whose 14-year-old daughter attends the school said: "It's a disgrace. This girl should be prosecuted. She's clearly a threat to all girls."

Incredibly, the girl's mother had rung the school earlier in the day to warn that her daughter was on her way.

But one teacher claimed nothing was done to stop the girl confronting the victim.

The girl had been transferred to another nearby school earlier this year because of her unruly behaviour - but was booted out in three weeks because she had "no respect for authority".

Headteacher Margaret Hedley said: "We have robust policies to deal with such incidents."

She added new security gates were being fitted.

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Council in court over asbestos breaches

A school caretaker was exposed to asbestos on two separate occasions while sweeping out a boiler house in a school in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear.

North Tyneside Council pleaded guilty to five breaches of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002, for which it was fined a total of £17,005 and ordered to pay £3911 in full costs at North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court on 5 September.

The magistrates heard that in February 2005, Jubilee Primary School was told by the suppliers of new interactive whiteboards that it needed to have an asbestos survey carried out before they would drill into walls to put up the boards.

Asbestos (amosite dust) was discovered during the survey in the attic and boilerhouse, which were duly quarantined. A company was brought in to clear up rubble, but it did not remove the asbestos, nor did it inform the school that it was still present.

On 13 and 20 March 2006, a caretaker new to the school started sweeping the dry dust off the walls of the boilerhouse, unaware of its contamination by asbestos. “He was covered in dust and muck, from years of grime and filth,” Stephen Britton, the HSE investigating and prosecuting inspector, told SHP. “He only became aware of the asbestos when he saw contractors entering the building to remove it.”

The inspector told SHP the Council had 35 boilerhouses in its schools quarantined at the same time, but had not issued caretakers with any instruction on precautions that should be taken. “It was a breakdown in communication. If there had been a formal asbestos risk management plan in place, it would have given clearer information to those on the ground on what they should and should not do. It was foreseeable that the boilers would need servicing,” he pointed out.

In mitigation, the Council said it had since carried out a comprehensive review of all health and safety policies, practices and processes. A £500,000 programme of improvements has now been implemented, including a survey on every school in the borough, and removal of asbestos, where appropriate. A corporate asbestos monitoring group has been established, and additional training offered.

The Council was fined £3500 for breaching each of the following five offences under the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002:
* reg.4, by not identifying the type of asbestos before work is carried out;
* reg.6, by not notifying the enforcing authority of any work with asbestos;
* reg. 9, by failing to ensure the proper use of control measures and personal protection equipment;
* reg.10, by not ensuring that control measures or equipment are properly maintained; and
* reg.13 by failing to ensure the cleanliness of premises and plant where work takes place that is liable to result in exposure to asbestos.

In a statement after the case, chief executive Andrew Kerr said: “The Council recognises its responsibility to meet the highest possible health and safety standards to protect staff and public. It is extremely disappointing that those standards have fallen short in this instance. We can reassure the public that asbestos does not present a risk in Jubilee School, nor any other North Tyneside school.”

Inspector Britton concluded: “The Regulations require those with responsibilities for the repair and maintenance of non-domestic premises to find out if there are, or may be, asbestos-containing materials within them. It also requires them to record the location and condition of such materials, and then assess and manage any risk from them, including passing on information about their location and condition to anyone liable to disturb them.”
 

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Superdrug in dock over “inevitable” injury to student

High-street beauty and health retailer, Superdrug, has been fined after a 15-year-old schoolboy on work experience was injured by a conveyor belt at its store in Beverley, East Yorkshire.

The town’s magistrates heard on 16 September that Nathaniel Cousins and another boy had been on a week’s work-experience placement at the store on 22 May 2007. After receiving a brief induction, they were placed with an employee who showed them how to use the conveyor belt, which was moving goods from the ground to the first-floor landing of the store.

On the second day of their placement, the boys had been taking goods off the top of the conveyor on their own, despite the fact that it had been specifically prohibited for use by schoolchildren when the work-experience arrangements had been made between the schools’ placement agency and the store.

“There was a fixed roller table close to the conveyor that did not have any guarding, so providing a trapping point at the take-off point. It had been there for donkey’s years,” said Neil Huntley, who investigated the incident for East Riding of Yorkshire Council and prosecuted the case in court.

Other employees were not aware of the trapping point in which the boy’s hand became caught. “Fortunately, the other boy hit the emergency-stop button straight away. If he had not done that, Nathaniel could have lost his arm,” Huntley told SHP.

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service had to be called to release the boy’s trapped hand, in which he broke a bone.

“Superdrug had been told three times before the incident that there was a problem with the guarding. There are no excuses,” stressed Huntley.

The company said in mitigation the accident had not been serious. Training was accessible on its intranet and it had enjoyed a good safety record over the last few years.

Superdrug was fined a total of £8000 for five breaches of legislation and ordered to pay full costs of £2650.

An investigation by Council inspectors found that the conveyor system fell well short of accepted industry standards for guarding arrangements, with several areas identified where employees could have become trapped. Store staff had not been provided with adequate training and instruction in order to identify such dangers.

Superdrug pleaded guilty to breaching:
• s2(1) of HSWA 1974 by failing to ensure its employees’ safety – fine £2500;

• s2(2)(a) of HSWA by not adequately guarding the conveyor system – fine £2500;

• reg.11(1)(a) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) by not preventing access to dangerous parts of machinery – fine £1000;

• reg.9(1) of PUWER by failing to adequately train workers in the use of work equipment – fine £1000; and

• reg.9(2) of PUWER by failing to train supervisors of those using work equipment – fine £1000.

Paul Mears, the Council’s health and safety manager, commented: “This was an easily preventable accident, which clearly highlights the risks of working with unsafe machinery, coupled with failure to provide adequate instruction and training. An accident was inevitable and could have resulted in a more serious injury to the employee concerned.”

Huntley concluded: “This case should serve as a lesson to those companies wanting to take people on work experience. They are classed as employees and therefore must be given the same full protection as any other employee. If the premises are not safe to work in, prosecution will follow.”
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Asbestos found in 192 schools across Bedfordshire

TopAsbestos fibres are still present in almost 90 per cent of Bedfordshire's schools. The hazardous substance, which can cause lung cancer and respiratory illnesses, was used in building materials until the late 1990s and is still present in 192 of Bedfordshire's 220 schools.

Parents and teachers are now calling on the all-party parliamentary sub-committee on asbestos, and local authorities, to remove the dangerous material.

A spokesman for The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) said: "Putting a drawing pin into a classroom wall or slamming a classroom door could be enough to sign a death warrant."

More than 100 teachers, nursery staff and education sector workers in the UK died from mesothelioma, the particularly aggressive form of cancer caused by contact with asbestos, between 2001 and 2005.

Kerry Fleckney, whose son attends Ridgmont Lower School and was a member of the school's parent teacher association, said: "I did not know there was still asbestos in our schools, I thought it had all been removed. I would certainly like to see it removed from Bedfordshire's schools before it affects children's health."

A report by the Government's Health and Safety Executive found a further 179 teachers in the UK died of mesothelioma between 1980 and 2000. And the number of people dying from the disease each year has almost doubled since 1992.

Dr Mary Bousted, ATL general secretary, said: "We are deeply concerned about the continuing risk to teachers, support staff and pupils from asbestos in our schools. There is still too little information about asbestos.

"More than 400 ATL members know they have been exposed to asbestos in their school or college. But this is the tip of the iceberg.

"Many teachers and pupils will be unaware, and because asbestos-related illnesses take between 15 to 60 years to develop, it is difficult to know how many will become ill or die as a result of exposure."

Tim Chapel, Bedfordshire County Council's head of property, said the asbestos in Bedfordshire's schools was not at a dangerous level, but admitted there have been recent cases of people dying having been exposed to asbestos as a child.

He said: "A 28-year-old lady recently became the youngest person to die from an asbestos related illness. Asbestos illnesses take a long time to develop so this lady was probably exposed when she was young.

"192 schools in Bedfordshire have asbestos out of 220, but it's not at a dangerous level.

"In all our schools we have an asbestos register which states where it is in the building and the condition of it. We go in to check this every year and if it is damaged it is removed."

Asbestos fibres were most commonly used in pipe lagging and boiler insulation as well as being mixed into vinyl tiles and Artex in schools and hospitals.

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School caretaker gains compensation for ladder fall

A school caretaker who fell off a ladder at work has won the right to compensation.

Anthony Gower-Smith fell off a stepladder in 2004 while trying to remove a display from a wall of the school. He fractured his skull and suffered damage to his right kidney.

He brought a personal injury claim against the local authority, claiming that he had not received adequate training in the use of stepladders. He had, however, received some training – he had been told not to stand on the top step of the ladder and not to work at heights greater than three metres.

However, a contributing factor to the accident was that Mr Gower-Smith had placed the ladder parallel to the wall on which he was working instead of at right-angles to it, which is safer. Mr Gower-Smith maintained that he had not been made aware of this.

In court the judge explained that it didn't matter that stepladders were everyday pieces of equipment. Thorough training was still required. In fact, because they are everyday items it is more important to point out the potential risks in using them. The judge found that the training given to Mr Gower-Smith was deficient in that this was responsible for his lack of knowledge of the extent of the danger attached to placing the ladder side-on to the wall.

The court did, however, rule that the damages award should be reduced by 25 per cent because of Mr Gower-Smith’s contributory negligence.

The claim was for between £15,000 and £50,000, but the exact amount of the settlement is yet to be decided.

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Boy, 5, had knife to attack teacher

A boy of five was caught with a knife in lessons after smuggling it in and planning to attack a teacher with it. The boy, who hid the kitchen knife in his tray, was caught after he boasted to pupils. When teachers confronted him he said he was going to use it on his tutor so he would be moved to a class next to his older brother.

A source at Gateshead council, which is responsible for the school, said: "His reason for having it follows a five-year-old's logic.”He said he would be moved closer to him if he used the weapon against his teacher. He doesn't fully comprehend what he's done."

The unnamed child was suspended and evaluated by psychologists. The source said: "The school took it seriously but because of his age did not exclude him." Maggie Atkinson of Learning and Children's Services at the council, said: "The school acted immediately, calmly and professionally.

The police and parents were informed."

The shocking case is one of 188 examples of pupils carrying weapons. But the true figure is much higher as only 36 of 118 councils in England responded to the Mirror's freedom of information request as part of our Stop Knives, Save Lives campaign.

Two seven-year-olds in Lincolnshire were also removed - one for holding scissors to a teacher's throat, the other for brandishing a kitchen knife. A seven-year-old in Westminster and two eight-year-olds in Rochdale and Gateshead were also expelled for possessing knives. The majority of cases involved secondary pupils with blades.

Lyn Costello of Mothers Against Murder said: "It's time schools accepted things are not the same as they were 20 years ago. They have to play their part by educating pupils."

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Owners fined over waterfall death

Laura McDairmant (c) Brian McDairmant
Laura McDairmant died after falling onto rocks at Black Loch

The owners of an adventure centre in Galloway where a schoolgirl died on holiday have been fined £16,000 for failing to ensure her safety.

Laura McDairmant, 15, from Carlisle, died after falling onto rocks during a pool jumping activity in July 2006.

At Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court, the Abernethy Trust pled guilty to not properly managing the risks.

Sheriff Kenneth Hogg said the trust had failed Ms McDairmant and the fine marked the revulsion of the community.

He said no fine could remedy the criminally culpable death.

In a statement, the chief executive of the Abernethy Trust said "Our thoughts and prayers are with the McDairmant family.

"Until Laura's death we had operated for 35 years without major incident or injury. We are determined to learn whatever lessons we can from her tragic death."

Protruding rocks

Earlier, the Crown had accepted not guilty pleas from two instructors, Gareth Alcorn and Richard Farrell, who were working on the day Ms McDairmant died.

The schoolgirl was on an adventure holiday at the Abernethy Trust centre at Barcaple, near Ringford, in Galloway.

One of the activities involved "gorge-jumping" - leaping into a deep pool on the Grey Mare's Tail burns near Black Loch in the Galloway Forest Park.

However, Ms McDairmant struck protruding rocks and died the next day in Dumfries Infirmary.

The Inverness-shire based Abernethy Trust, which runs the activity centre, was accused of failing to ensure Laura's safety and permitting its employees to use a site for gorge-jumping that was unsafe.

Mr Alcorn, of Coleraine in Northern Ireland, and Mr Farrell, of Barcaple, had denied failing to recognise the hazards involved and permitting and encouraging the girl to make the jump from a cliff directly above the rocks.

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£35,000 tot death fine.

The former owner of a nursery where a toddler was choked by a bag's drawstring was yesterday fined £35,000.

Rosemarie Meadows admitted breaching health and safety rules.

Judge Mark Horton at Gloucester crown court heard that Molly Cunliffe's parents told Meadows, 45, of Churchdown, Glos, that she liked to put things around her neck. She had failed to warn staff.

The judge added: "This catastrophe could have been foreseen." Meadows has sold the nursery. She said after the case: "I feel deep remorse."

 

 

The owner of an indoor play centre in Bristol has been found guilty of multiple health and safety offences.

Sitting on 14 November, Bristol Magistrates’ Court heard that a council environmental health team visited the play centre after receiving numerous complaints from the public about the site. The inspection found numerous health and safety failings including a lack of maintenance to several parts of the play area, tripping hazards, a mouse infestation, a fire door chained and padlocked, and a separate fire door obstructed by electrical equipment.

The inspection also revealed a catalogue of fall risks throughout the site. One section of the play area, which was supposed to be cordoned off from children, offered no protection from a three-metre fall to the ground.

Investigators originally visited the site in April 2007 but the owner, Janet Walters, failed to respond to suggestions made by council officers. As a result a second inspection was carried out in May 2007 and Walters was served with three improvement notices, which ordered repairs to be carried out on electrical equipment, maintenance to the play equipment, and adequate control of trip hazards.

Walters failed to respond to the Improvement Notices before their expiry date, and in January this year a final inspection was carried out. As a result of the investigation, the council issued a hygiene emergency Prohibition Notice to close the business until the necessary work had been carried out.

Walters pleaded guilty to two charges of breaching s3(1) of the HSWA 1974, and three charges under s33(1) of the HSWA 1974. She was given a conditional discharge for two years and ordered to pay £1000 towards the council’s costs.

In mitigation, Walters said that she had taken over the business from a friend and hadn’t realised the extent of improvements that were needed. She also inherited a series of unpaid bills and wages that left her with a severe financial burden. As a result, she did not have the finances to carry out the relevant improvements.

Environmental health officer Heather Clarke told SHP: “If the centre had followed our advice, and had carried out regular maintenance and cleaning, these problems would not have occurred. The site also lacked proper supervision and children were left unattended to play on a free-fall slide.

“This was without doubt the dirtiest indoor play facility that I have seen in recent years and it was given plenty of opportunity to comply with safety and hygiene legislation. This did not happen and the safety of young children was put at risk.”

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Council fined £5k after teacher gets asthma
A teacher contracted occupational asthma after a local council failed to control exposure to wood dust at the school where he worked.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard on 28 November that John Shand developed occupational asthma after inhaling high levels of wood dust while teaching woodwork classes at Bannockburn High School in Stirling between 1996 and 2007.

In 2004 Mr Shand began to suffer from breathlessness, wheezing and coughing, which he initially attributed to a lack of fitness. Over the next two years he made a conscious effort to improve his fitness but still suffered from these ailments. In October 2006 he visited his GP and was diagnosed with asthma. His doctor advised him to contact an occupational health practitioner to determine if the asthma was caused as a result of exposure to wood dust at his work.

Mr Shand made a formal complaint to Stirling Council, which referred him to an occupational health doctor. The doctor confirmed that his asthma was a result of wood-dust inhalation and advised him that it wasn’t safe for him to continue to work in his current role.

Mr Shand notified the HSE about his concerns and the organisation carried out an inspection of the school in January 2007. As a result of the inspection the HSE served two improvement notices on the council, firstly, for failure to provide adequate controls around dangerous substances, and secondly, for not carrying out a COSHH risk assessment.

The HSE also learned that the school had continually informed the council since 2004 that adequate measures were not in place to protect staff and pupils from exposure to wood dust. The HSE decided that the case was serious enough to be put in front of the procurator fiscal with the recommendation to prosecute.

Stirling Council was fined £5000 after pleading guilty to breaching reg.6(1) of COSHH 2002 for failure to carry out sufficient risk assessments for employees working with hazardous substances, reg.7(1) for failure to prevent or control exposure to these substances, and reg.12(1) for not providing sufficient information and training to staff.

In mitigation the council said it deeply regretted any suffering endured by Mr Shand, and it transferred him to the biology department as soon as it received his diagnosis. The council admitted that its system management was not acceptable and it has since carried out a full COSHH risk assessment.

HSE inspector Gillian McLean told SHP: “Mr Shand’s diagnosis of occupational asthma was entirely preventable. No risk assessment was in place to assess the dangers of working with wood dust and many control measures could have been put into place to prevent inhalation of the substance. One example would have been to use an industrial vacuum cleaner to remove the dust instead of dry sweeping the workshop.”

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The House of Lords has ruled that in safety cases involving an injury the prosecution is under no duty to identify and prove specific acts or omissions, but the defence must show that it has managed the risk so far as is reasonably practicable.


Commenting on the judgement, Sarah Murray, senior associate at Stevens & Bolton LLP, said: “The burden of proof falls on any business to show that it complied with its statutory duties. With actions judged with the benefit of hindsight, the odds are therefore stacked against the business. This makes it vitally important that businesses make sure that health and safety is treated as a top priority and complied with, no matter how onerous the burden appears to be.”

A four-year-old child received serious internal injuries after being swept down a water spillway and becoming impaled on a tree branch, a court heard.

A group of 20 children, from Clockwork Day Nursery were taken on an outing to Stamford Park, Ashton-under-Lyne on 7 June 2006. The children, aged between four and 11, were taken to the park by four nursery staff, one of whom was a female worker who had not been cleared to work with children. One of the children had special needs and required one-to-one care.

The children were left to play without supervision and ran out of sight of the staff. A number of the children wandered off into some bushes and came across a water spillway, which was channelling water from a nearby reservoir. The spillway is protected by a two-foot wall on each side and some of the children stepped down into the waterway in order to cross to the other side.

One of the children, Sidney Holt, was attempting to cross the water, when he slipped on some algae and was swept 24 metres to the bottom of the spillway and became impaled on a branch in his stomach.

HSE inspector Catherine Willars told SHP that some of the children ran back to inform the nursery staff about the accident but the staff didn’t believe them and ignored their warning. A passer-by found Sidney and carried him back to level ground before calling for an ambulance. The nursery staff only became aware that the boy was actually injured when the ambulance arrived. Sidney was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery. He was fortunate that the branch had not pierced any vital organs.

Willars also said that Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council (MBC), which managed the park, had an obligation to protect children from hazards. She also revealed the council was issued with an Improvement Notice after the accident, which ordered it to erect fencing around the spillway in order to prevent children from gaining access to the water.

Clockwork Day Nursery Ltd pleaded guilty at Trafford Magistrates’ Court on 17 January 2008 to breaching s3(1) of the HSWA 1974 and reg.3(1) of the MHSWR 1999. The company was fined a total of £21,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6779. The nursery appealed against the sentence but the decision was upheld at Manchester Crown Court on 26 January this year.

Tameside MBC pleaded guilty to breaching both regulations at the same Crown Court hearing and was fined a total of £25,000 and ordered to pay £23,565 costs.

In mitigation, Clockwork Day Nursery said that the incident occurred at a time when all four members of its senior management were absent due to exceptional circumstances. This had left it short-staffed and without anyone present who was properly trained or knowledgeable enough to carry out a risk assessment during the trip.

The council said that it deeply regretted the incident and has responded to the terms of the Improvement Notice by erecting a fence around the spillway to prevent children from being able to gain access.

Inspector Willars said: “These cases are not about stopping children having fun. However, there is an obligation to protect vulnerable people from dangers. This was a serious incident, which resulted in a child receiving horrific abdominal injuries. It could have easily been avoided had simple and sensible precautions been taken by the nursery and the council.

“Tameside MBC failed to recognise the potential for danger and did not make a suitable assessment of risks to the public and, in particular, children, from the accessible and unprotected water channel.

“The nursery did not carry out a sufficient risk assessment for the outing and failed to ensure that the injured child was not put at risk. Supervision is critical and should reflect the needs of the party, the activities being carried out, the age and ability range of the children, and the risks of the location.”

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Q. With winter approaching, our school is deciding what is “reasonably practicable” when it comes to keeping a footpath leading to the premises clear of snow and ice. Can you advise us on this matter?

A. There is a requirement under reg.12 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 to ensure the safe condition of floors and traffic routes. Paragraph 96 of the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) to these Regulations makes specific reference to minimising the risks from snow and ice, and there is a recommendation regarding snow-clearing and gritting.

Some employers may be worried that they might attract a liability if this is not done adequately. Two civil cases are relevant to this question: Bloxham v Swan Hunter Shipbuilders Ltd (unreported, 58/208) and Fildes v International Computers (1984, CLY 2316, CA). In these cases, it was established that a system for controlling the hazards of snow and ice discharges liability if it fulfils best practice, but is not expected to extend to unreasonable lengths.

In particular, these cases established that devoting the resources available to clearing the most used areas in priority to those less used was reasonable. Gritting twice a day, early in the morning and in the early evening (the times when most traffic – vehicle and pedestrian – is expected) is likely to be most practicable, but individual circumstances may vary.

It is particularly valuable to remind employees of their duty under s7 of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 to take care of their own safety, particularly when moving about in slippery conditions. One hazard that is frequently forgotten is the slippery floors caused by people bringing in water and slush on their shoes. Extra care with doormats and floor cleaning is likely to help reduce this hazard.

When clearing snow and ice, it is probably worth stopping at the boundaries of the property under your control. If an area of the public highway is cleared, there is a common-law duty of care to ensure that it is cleared properly and remains clear. If this duty is not fulfilled, it can lead to an action for damages against the employer, e.g. if members of the public, assuming that the area is still clear of ice and thus safe to walk on, slip and injure themselves.

 

A teacher at the Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College in Bradford needed hospital treatment after he suffered a powerful electric shock while handling computer equipment.

The teacher suffered the shock as he unplugged a portable metal laptop storage trolley from the mains. A laptop computer was plugged into the unit, which charges the machine. He was treated by paramedics before being taken to hospital.

An independent investigation has started, involving the contractors responsible for supplying and installing the laptop and the trolley. Use of the equipment has been suspended while the probe continues.
 


An independent electrical adviser is investigating the incident, as is Amey, the facilities management firm involved in Integrated Bradford, a consortium contracted to build schools for Bradford Council’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

The laptop trolley was supplied to the school by Integrated Bradford when the consortium completed the school last summer.

Buttershaw head teacher Richard Hughes said: “Investigations are taking place and interim measures have been taken to prevent any chance of a recurrence. The safety of our staff and students is our first priority.”

A spokesman for Integrated Bradford said: “Extensive expert independent testing has so far not returned any fault with the product and has confirmed it meets all applicable safety certifications.
 


“No other similar incident involving these products has been reported to either Integrated Bradford or the manufacturers. The product is in use at Tong and Salt schools and they are being kept up to date.”
 


Nottingham-based education and computer furniture firm Monarch UK supplied the laptop storage units. Managing director Andy Harry said: “My gut feeling is that his injury was caused by a build-up of static electricity. Our laptop trolley is virtually an extension cord so we believe there’s no way anything in our trolley caused the injury but there may have been something plugged into it.”

Earlier this week, it was reported that Bradford’s first phase of Building Schools for the Future schools – Titus Salt in Baildon, Tong High and Buttershaw – were opened last September with a host of problems including a leaking roof and a swimming pool built without safety signs or an alarm at Tong. Other common problems were walls decorated with the wrong paint, taps that did not reach over sinks and faltering computers.

The Council has informed the Health and Safety Executive of the incident.

 

 
 
HSE prosecuted East Lancashire Box Company of Lancashire after a 16-year old employee's hand was dragged into a printing machine while he was cleaning it.

The company was charged with failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of an employee under Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974; failing to make a suitable risk assessment under Regulation 3 (1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and also an offence under the Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Act 1920 in that they employed a child in an industrial undertaking.

The company pleaded guilty at Hyndburn Magistrates Court and was fined a total of £12,000 and ordered to pay £3,451 costs.

HSE inspector Matthew Lea told the court that the charges related to an incident in March 2008 when the 16-year-old was cleaning a slow-moving roller using a cloth wrapped around his hand. The cloth became entangled in the top roller, dragging his hand into the machine, breaking a finger and causing crush injuries to two of his fingers.

The company had no risk assessments or safe operating procedures for any of their machines and the procedure used to clean the printer roller posed a risk to their employees' safety.

The 16-year-old was employed as a factory worker with the specific task of folding and breaking out cardboard boxes. However, if he completed these tasks the teenager was told to help with tidying up.

Mr Lea said: "This accident highlights the dangers associated with cleaning and maintaining printing machines. It is vital that companies develop a safe system of work for these operations.

"Companies should also consider the additional responsibilities associated with employing young people, and ensure that they are properly supervised to prevent them attempting tasks which they have not been trained to do - even if they are just trying to make a good impression by keeping busy.

"This accident was avoidable and sadly despite several operations, this young man is still unable to straighten his hand. He has also been unable to follow his chosen career path which was to join the armed forces."

 
 
Westpoint Schoolcare Ltd has been prosecuted for breaching Regulations 5, 8(1) and 11 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006. The firm from Gorton, Manchester was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay costs of £515 after pleading guilty to failing to properly assess whether asbestos was present before starting refurbishment work at a Manchester school.

The company also failed to take the necessary steps to prevent its employees being exposed to asbestos dust and undertook licensable work without holding a licence.

Westpoint Schoolcare was appointed to complete refurbishment works at Manley Park Junior School in Whalley Range, including updating the toilets. The school provided information from their asbestos register clearly identifying that the ceiling tiles contained 5 to 50% Amosite (Brown Asbestos).

However, the company did not properly act on this information and failed to instruct their employees on the presence of asbestos or how to work without disturbing the asbestos ceiling tiles.

The ceiling was removed despite the fact that Westpoint Schoolcare Ltd did not hold a licence to do such work and without taking any of the necessary precautions as required by the Control of Asbestos Regulations Act 2006.

HSE inspector Thomas Merry said: "Westpoint were given the necessary information about the presence of asbestos in the area of the school in which they were working. They had ample opportunity to ensure that the ceiling was not disturbed, and arrange for a competent licensed contractor to remove the asbestos in a safe, controlled manner.

"Unfortunately this was not done and an employee of the company was needlessly exposed to asbestos fibres."

 

 
Former teacher Colin Adams has received £275,000 in compensation after his school failed to warn him about the dangers presented by the 12-year-old pupil who attacked him in a school corridor.

Mr Adams taught ICT at Kingswood Community School for eight years, having joined teaching after a career as an electrical engineer but he has now taken ill health retirement following the incident which left him with post traumatic stress disorder.

During the attack, the pupil jumped on his back and then attempted to strangle him while he lay unconscious on the ground. Mr Adams had been on his way to seek help from another senior teacher to discipline the student because he was causing problems in a colleague’s class.

Only a week earlier the same student had attacked a security guard at the library across the road from the school. Despite the head teacher knowing about this, the pupil’s violent past was never made known to teachers.

The pupil was subsequently prosecuted and pleaded guilty to Actual Bodily Harm.

Mr Adams said: “Teaching is the best job I have ever had but I have been forced to give it up as a result of this incident. If I had known this student had had a history of violence I would never have turned my back on him. Instead I’ve been left unable to cope with children and have been forced to take ill health retirement.

“More help needs to be given to teachers who find themselves in similar circumstances. Schools need to take violence seriously and the Local Education Authority needs to be in a position to provide psychiatric help from those specialising in victims of assault to ensure teachers feel mentally prepared to return to the job.”

Jim Quigley from Mr Adams’ union, the NASUWT, said: “Every day some teachers are at risk because pupils who have a history of violence and aggression are not properly risk-assessed and preventative measures are not in place.
 


“More needs to be done to ensure teachers are well equipped to deal with the regrettable reality of pupil violence.”

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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has joined forces with Dudley College to launch a new campaign in the West Midlands to prevent accidents in schools, colleges and universities.

HSE's Shattered Lives campaign is highlighting the devastating consequences that slips, trips and falls can have on people's lives, with five deaths and more than 4,200 serious injuries in West Midlands workplaces last year.

Slips, trips and falls cause 60 per cent of all serious injuries to people working in education, according to the latest statistics from HSE. Last year, 2,500 accidents in the sector resulted from slips, trips and falls, costing nearly £50 million in compensation and lost time.

HSE Education Inspector, Jenny Skeldon, said: "The vast majority of slips, trips and falls are easily preventable if people follow a few simple rules.

"Most serious injuries from falls in schools, colleges and universities happen from a height of less than two metres. Common accidents include people falling down stairs, or falling from chairs and desks when they should have used a stepladder - for instance, when putting up displays on walls.

"Dudley College has taken steps to eliminate this risk by lowering the level of books in the library so that people can reach them from the floor. In addition, a purpose-built footstool is on hand if required. There is no need for anyone to pick up a chair.

"Corridors and staircases in education buildings can be very busy places so it's vital that they're kept clean to prevent slips, trips and falls. We're encouraging teachers and lecturers to promote the well known 'walk - don't run' rule inside buildings, and to make sure any spillages are cleaned up immediately."

Neil Thomas, Dudley College's Learning Resources Manager, is in charge of the college library. He said: "The health and safety of our staff and students is of the utmost importance and we're committed to a continual improvement in standards of health and safety.

"The simplest changes to processes or environments can help reduce the risk of injury to our staff or students. We carry out regular risk assessments of all areas of our work and look to put in place tools, support or procedures to reduce risks. The key to this is staff training to ensure they can spot risks and follow safe procedures."

* For more information on the Shattered Lives campaign, including a useful online tool to help employers do everything they can to minimise danger to staff, visit: www.hse.gov.uk/shatteredlives

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North Yorkshire County Council is to be prosecuted by the HSE over the death of 14-year-old, Joe Lister, who drowned on a school caving trip.

Joe died when floodwater swept through Manchester Hole Cave in the Yorkshire Dales in November 2005. He was one of 11 Tadcaster Grammar School pupils visiting the cave during a week at Bewerley Park Outdoor Education Centre in North Yorkshire.

North Yorkshire County Council, which owns and operates the outdoor education centre, faces charges under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act (1974), alleging the authority's failure to ensure the safety at work of its employees, including the Tadcaster Grammar School teacher who accompanied the school group.
 


Another charge, under the same Act, relates to the authority's alleged failure to ensure the safety of persons not in its employment, namely the Tadcaster Grammar School pupils, including Joe Lister.

The prosecutions follow a joint investigation by the HSE and North Yorkshire Police. The case will be heard at Harrogate Magistrates' Court.

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Andy Waters, the head teacher of a group of pupils from Kingsley School in Bideford, who had to be winched to safety from a beach, said safety guidelines would be reviewed after one pupil suffered a minor injury.

Nine 16-year-olds, a teacher and a teaching assistant were cut off by high tides while taking part in an outdoor exercise in March. One of the adults scaled the cliff at Hartland Quay to raise the alarm and the group were rescued by helicopter.

Mr Waters said the group, which was taking part in a coasteering activity, was fully equipped and being led by a qualified climber.
 


"Having traversed into the bays, the group turned round but were unable to retrace their route safely due to the water level in the final bay," he explained. "They remained on the beach above the high-tide line at all times, and were not in any danger. However, they were unable to get a phone signal and could not alert anyone."

He said that as a result of the incident, the school would extend the period around high tide when the cliffs and coastal areas would be considered "no-go areas". He also said an adult "spotter" would stand at the top of the cliffs with a two-way radio, so groups could communicate despite not having a phone signal.

Coasteering is an adventure activity that includes traversing around sea cliffs close to the water, short swims and jumps from the cliffs into the sea.

 

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'Disgust' at drowned cadet death

The parents of a teenage army cadet who died on a boating exercise have expressed "disgust" after a report into her death.

Kaylee McIntosh, 14, from Fyvie in Aberdeenshire, died when a boat overturned on Loch Carnan on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides in August 2007.

A sheriff said reasonable precautions could have prevented her death.

Kaylee's father Derek said: "The Army murdered our Kaylee. It is as plain and simple as that."

A headcount error meant Kaylee was trapped under the boat for 90 minutes before it was noticed she was missing.

She had been wearing the wrong type of life jacket, which resulted in her being pinned beneath the boat.

Kaylee was one of 34 cadets on a training exercise when her boat overturned.

 

“ I can only hope that the public exploration of the circumstances of Kaylee's death and this determination provide them with some explanation as to how their tragic loss occurred ” Sheriff Alasdair MacFadyen
 
Sheriff Alasdair MacFadyen presided over a 10-day fatal accident inquiry.

He said the inquiry had found that a number of precautions could have been taken which would have avoided the accident or prevented the loss of Kaylee's life.

"Tragically, Kaylee's life might not have been lost had some of the precautions been taken singly, for example the headcount on the water or the issuing of the correct size of lifejacket," he said.

He added: "With the exception of a very short period, and for very good reason, Kaylee's parents attended court throughout the inquiry.

"Their quiet dignity and concentration when hearing about the final hours of their daughter was both impressive and, to quote a witness, humbling.

"I can only hope that the public exploration of the circumstances of Kaylee's death and this determination provide them with some explanation as to how their tragic loss occurred and might go some way to reduce the risk of any other parents finding themselves in such a situation in the future."

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Young girl nearly asphyxiated on go-kart


A 13-year-old girl nearly died of asphyxiation while driving a go-kart when her scarf got caught in the vehicle’s rear axle.
The girl was enjoying a family day out at the TRAQ motor sports circuit in Mitcham, Surrey, when the accident took place, on 14 April 2008. She was close to completing a 10 minute session on the go-kart track when she slowed to turn a corner, and her pashmina scarf became tangled. As a result result, her neck was pulled backwards, causing her back to become arched over the kart seat.

A family who were waiting to go on the track witnessed the incident, and rushed over to help the girl. They managed to free her and she lay unconscious until the track operator arrived a few moments later and began to resuscitate her.

She was transported to hospital by air ambulance and kept in for three days. A subsequent visit to a plastic surgeon revealed that she has been left her with permanent scarring to her neck.

The track operator, Terrence Colliver, was served with four Improvement Notices by London Borough of Sutton Council. These ordered him to undertake a sufficient risk assessment, ensure that the karts are tested and examined by a competent person, install preventative measures to dangerous parts, and put in place planning controls and monitoring of these measures.

Colliver appeared at Croydon Crown Court on 24 April and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) and s3(1) of the HSWA 1974. He was fined £5000 for the s2 offence and £5000.01 for the other, as the judge wanted to highlight that this was the more serious offence. He was also ordered to pay full costs of £3365 to Sutton Council.

In mitigation, Colliver said he had no previous convictions and had fully complied with the terms of the Improvement Notices. He has improved safety signage at the track, and customers are now obligated to wear protective overalls when driving the karts. Guarding has also been installed to all vehicles to prevent access to the dangerous parts.

Sutton Council principal environmental health practitioner, Kate Nicholls, told SHP: “We carried out an inspection at the track in November 2007, and if Mr Colliver had taken on board our suggestions he could have taken steps, which would have helped prevent this accident.

“If he had carried out a proper risk assessment he would have become aware that he needed to give proper safety briefings to customers, and also ensure that they wore protective overalls. It would also have become apparent that karts required guarding to be installed to prevent access to the dangerous parts. If these steps had been taken, it is likely that the accident would have been avoided.”
 
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Asbestos disturbed during school refurbishment

 

 
 
 
A building firm has been fined following the unlicensed removal of asbestos from a primary school in Somerset. Taunton Crown Court heard that Dave Lee Ltd had been contracted to carry out refurbishment works at Westonzoyland Primary School during the 2007 summer break. The work had been commissioned in order to change the layout of classrooms and provide more space for teaching.

Work began on 18 July, and two builders from the firm began to remove internal walls and doors. During this process the workmen damaged some overhead firebreaks, which contained asbestos, and sought the advice of the head teacher to see if he was aware that asbestos was present in the ceilings.

The head teacher contacted Somerset County Council, and subsequently informed the builders that it was safe for them to continue work, providing no more asbestos was disturbed. The refurbishment continued until 13 August, when an environmental health officer (EHO) from the council visited the site on an unrelated matter and discovered broken pieces of asbestos boarding.

The EHO instructed the builders to stop working and arranged for a licensed asbestos removal firm to dispose of the boarding. The clean-up operation cost the council approximately £190,000.

Inspectors from the HSE were called out to visit the site and issued an Improvement Notice against Dave Lee Ltd, which ordered it to attend asbestos awareness training.

The firm appeared in court on 8 May and pleaded guilty to breaching reg.5 and reg.11 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006. It was fined £1100 and ordered to pay £500 in costs.

In mitigation, the company said it had no previous convictions and entered an early guilty plea. It also fully complied with the terms of the Improvement Notice and expressed remorse for exposing employees to a hazardous substance.

HSE inspector Sue Adsett said: “It was very fortunate that, in this particular case, the Local Education Authority was able to remove the risk to schoolchildren and staff before they returned to school ¬– although, of course, the workmen involved in the initial refurbishment work were exposed to significant risk.

“This case highlights the need to use licensed asbestos contractors, rather than general builders, when removing asbestos products, and the need to ensure that professional and competent project managers are in place to oversee the work. Just as importantly, this case also emphasises the need for the contractors themselves to ensure that they are appropriately licensed to carry out the work, and that there are serious penalties for not doing so.”
 

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HSE Investigate: Incident at Minster college

19 May 2009

HSE continue to investigate the incident involving the collapse of ventilation ducting at Minster College on 12 May 2009. HSE Inspectors and Specialists have now completed gathering evidence from site and control of the hall has been handed back to the college.

Initial investigations have identified that the steel wires which attached the ducting to the hall roof failed.  Evidence gathered from the hall will now be examined by the Health & Safety Laboratory (HSL) in Buxton.  It would be inappropriate to speculate, at this stage, on what may have caused the failure of the steel wires. 

The investigation is likely to take sometime but HSE will provide further information when we are able to do so.

13 May 2009

HSE is investigating the incident.

We currently have inspectors on site including a specialist construction engineering inspector. We are working with Minster College and Kent County Council to ascertain the cause of the incident and see if there are any lessons to be learnt.

We can confirm that there was no asbestos present in the heating duct or the hall.

Heating duct fallen onto tables and chairs Exam hall with metal heating duct which fell from ceiling Heating duct resting on tables

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School fine of £1500 and told to pay full costs of £2862.

 
A school in Essex did not report an incident where a caretaker sustained four fractured ribs and a gashed head after falling more than three metres through a fragile glass-fibre roof until a year after it happened. Sitting on 23 June, Basildon magistrates heard how the caretaker had been clearing rubbish from the fragile canopy at Brentwood County High School, on 28 February 2007. As he was carrying out this task, a panel broke beneath him, causing him to fall on to the concrete floor of the playground below. He has suffered recurrent migraines as a result of the fall.

 The court heard that the school had not properly planned or assessed the work and assumed the canopy could take the weight of a man. It did not follow previous advice provided by Essex County Council on how to manage work at height.

Brentwood County High School pleaded guilty to breaching reg. 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 by failing to properly plan and supervise work at height, and reg.3(1)(b)(ii) of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 for failing to notify the incident to the HSE within ten days. It was handed down a single fine of £1500 and told to pay full costs of £2862.

The school said in mitigation that it had purchased the canopy on the strength of an advertisement from the supplier that had showed a car resting on the roof to demonstrate that it could hold a considerable weight. It said the non-reporting of the incident had been a one-off oversight. There had been some confusion as the school’s site manager had been off work sick on several occasions and although it was thought he had submitted a report to the bursar, it was subsequently revealed that he had not.

Matthew Tackling, the HSE inspector who investigated the case and prosecuted it in court, commented: “Falls from height are the biggest killer of people at work. In this case an employee suffered serious injury that has affected his life since and that is only now beginning to improve.

 “Proper planning and assessment of work at height is vital to identify the risks involved and safe ways of working. This should include consideration of the strength of the materials anyone may stand on. People might fall through fragile material as well as off the edge.”

 

Injured schoolboy wins eye appeal

A Cornish schoolboy who was hit in the eye by a stone thrown during school playtime could now sue Cornwall Council over the incident.

Scott Palmer said he had his hopes of becoming a professional goalkeeper shattered by the injury at Tretherras School, Newquay, in July 2001.

A fellow pupil had unintentionally hit him in the eye during break time.

Judges at the Appeal Court in London overruled a previous decision dismissing a claim against the council.

The judges heard that two dinner ladies had been supervising hundreds of children.

'Effectively unsupervised'

Hundreds of Year 9 and 10 children at Tretherras were on their break period when a boy aimed a stone at a seagull but hit Scott, then aged 14.

There were just two dinner ladies on duty to supervise up to 400 pupils on the school playing field, which the judges said was clearly negligent.

The judges said the children had been "effectively unsupervised".

Mr Palmer, who is now 22, has suffered problems with his vision since the incident.

Cornwall Council said it was now reviewing arrangements for lunchtime supervision.

The council said it was disappointed at the outcome of the appeal, but accepted the judgment.

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Pupil suffers burns while on work experience placement


In July, Radcliffe Riverside pupil, 15-year-old Jonathan Bonner, was on a work experience placement at Castlefield Works, which specialises in doors, windows and conservatories, when he suffered 25 to 30 per cent burns. It is understood waste was being burned at the site.

Ambulance and fire crews attended the scene and the teenager was taken to Fairfield Hospital, Bury, before being transferred to Manchester Royal Infirmary where he underwent a series of five skin grafts to his forearms, stomach and legs.

Jonathan’s father, John Bonner, said: “We don’t know what happened but he put something onto the fire and it blew back at him, setting him on fire.”
 


An HSE spokesman said: “A prohibition notice has been served stopping waste matter being burned on the site until a full investigation has been carried into the incident.”

Bury Council are also probing the incident but stressed that policies were in place for the safety of children undertaking work placements. The placement had been cleared through the relevant agencies.

A council spokesman said: “The council have procedures in place for risk assessments for work experience placements and there is an investigation taking place to ensure the necessary procedures were followed.”

The placement had been arranged through Bolton and Bury Education Business Partnership. Tracy Hopkins, chief executive of the partnership, said: “We organise just short of 6,000 work placements a year across Bury and Bolton and visit every employer.

“This workplace was visited on June 3 and a risk assessment and child protection policies were followed. We have been organising placements at this workplace since May 2003 and there has never been an incident.”
 

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Schoolchild given “inappropriate” job suffers burns

A firm responsible for finding work placements for school children failed to carry out a risk assessment at a garage where a child caught fire.

Magistrates heard that Deansfield High School, in Wolverhampton, had employed Making Learning Work Ltd to find work placements for 32 pupils.

As part of its contract with the school, Making Learning Work was required to undertake a risk assessment of every site where pupils were placed. In January 2006 the company arranged for a 14-year-old boy to do several weeks of work experience at R&B Motor Services in Wolverhampton. But no risk assessment was carried out, and the boy was left under the supervision of a migrant worker who didn’t speak English.

On 30 January 2006, the schoolboy and his supervisor were retrieving petrol from the fuel tank of a vehicle. The supervisor was using a fuel pump to remove the petrol, but he had forgotten to put in place a container to store the petrol. In trying to prevent the fuel from coming out the end of the pump, he put his finger over the end of the hose, but this caused petrol to spray on to the boy’s overalls. A spark then emitted from the pump, and ignited to petrol on the boy’s clothes. The teenager was able to put out the flames by rolling on the floor, and was fortunate to only suffer minor burns to his right wrist.

The garage did not report the incident and the boy carried on working until the end of the day. Once Making Learning Work became aware of what had happened it immediately informed the HSE.

HSE inspector, John Healy, said: “Placing a 14-year-old schoolboy in extended work experience at R&B Motor Services was totally inappropriate. Probable inexperience and lack of maturity makes it essential that young people’s work-experience placements are risk-assessed before the start date.”

Making Learning Work appeared in Wolverhampton Magistrates’ Court on 8 September and pleaded guilty to breaching s3(1) of the HSWA 1974. It was given a one-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay full costs of £22,000.

In a previous hearing, Harjinder Kumar, owner of R&B Motor Services, pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974. The garage was fined £3500 and ordered to pay £1500 in costs.

Making Learning Work mitigated that this was an isolated incident and it had no previous convictions. It has subsequently employed a dedicated risk assessor, who is required to visit the premises of all firms that wish to offer work placements before children start work at these sites.

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Art class girl loses eight fingers after putting hands in plaster of Paris

 

 

A pupil has lost eight fingers after putting her hands in plaster of Paris, suffering agonising burns in a horrific classroom  blunder.

The 19-year-old’s terrifying ordeal began when the liquid quickly set around her skin, creating temperatures of up to 60C.

Frantic classmates and her teacher desperately tried to hack off the plaster with hammers. She was rushed to hospital with her hands wedged in the solidified block.

Doctors used a pneumatic drill to free her, but the damage from the burns was so bad surgeons had to remove all her fingers on her left hand and three on the other. She spent three months in hospital and her body is covered in scars from where skin grafts were taken.

The horror happened after the youngster “misunderstood” instructions from her art teacher. She was meant to put her hands in nearby wet clay to make moulds.

And yesterday the school was fined £16,500 after it admitted breaching health and safety laws.

The girl’s solicitor Stephen Hill described the dreadful incident. He said: “Panic ensued, with the teacher and classmates trying to remove the plaster. When plaster of Paris sets it heats from the inside, generating temperatures of up to 60 degrees. Her hands were being burnt as it set around her.”

The girl’s nightmare happened as she was studying for a BTech in art at the Giles School in Old Leake, Lincs.

 

But teachers failed to report it to the Health and Safety Executive, which found out only from her plastic surgeon. Prosecutor Jo Anderson told Boston magistrates a HSE probe later discovered no goggles or gloves were available.

Mr Hill revealed the youngster, who cannot be named, plans to sue education chiefs for £100,000.

She needed 12 operations. But incredibly, she returned to the school and gained three A levels.

Mr Hill said: “She is doing incredibly well considering.

“She has deferred a university place for a year to do voluntary work with young children. She is inspirational. I have never heard her complaining about her condition.

“Her next ambition is to learn to drive. She will need a lot of help.

“But she is determined to try to live a normal life and wants to do everything her friends are doing.”

After the hearing, Ms Anderson said: “Today we have heard the dreadful consequence of not carrying out proper risk assessments in the classroom.

“It is not acceptable that pupils are not informed of the risks involved in handling hazardous substances.”

Giles School admitted failing to notify the HSE of the accident and failing to ensure the health and safety of the teenager.

It said: “Our health and safety procedures have been rigorously revised. And we are confident that such an accident cannot occur again.”

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Child drowns at “poorly supervised” swimming pool

 A leisure centre has been fined £40,000 for serious management failings after a seven- year-old child drowned in a swimming pool.

Luke Hutton and a group of friends were enjoying a day out with his mother at the Olympia Leisure Complex in Dundee on 29 September 2007. Luke apparently did not know how to swim but still followed his friends into the pool while his mother was in the leisure centre canteen.

The pool had an area known as a wave channel, which is where swimmers could go to feel the full force of the wave machine. Luke became separated from his friends and was last seen entering the wave channel while holding on to a float. The wave channel had a blind spot, which can’t be viewed by lifeguards, and it is thought that Luke lost his grip on the float while the wave machine was in operation, and subsequently drowned.

When the waves stopped swimmers were asked to leave the pool as it was the end of the session. Once the pool was empty, staff put the covers over the pool. A few moments later Luke’s mother informed the leisure centre that he was missing, and they began to search the site. Staff removed the covers from the pool and found Luke at the bottom of the deep end.

Following an HSE investigation the group that owns the leisure centre, Dundee Leisure, was issued with seven Improvement Notices. Five of the notices ordered the firm to carry out a risk assessment at five of its leisure centres, and the other two notices required it to have arrangements in place for health and safety, and to have a competent person in charge of safety at the Olympia Leisure Complex.

HSE inspector Peter Dodd said: “HSE recognises the undoubted benefits of children learning to swim and the skills this equips them with. Cases such as this are rare, but it illustrates what can happen when a non-swimmer is not given the full attention they require to enable them to use these facilities safely.”

Dundee Leisure appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court on 17 November and pleaded guilty to breaching s3(1) of the HSWA 1974. It was fined £40,000 but no costs are awarded in Scotland.

The firm mitigated that it had no previous convictions and, following the investigation, it appointed a health and safety consultancy to carry out risk assessments at all its leisure facilities. It has also revised its admissions policy for swimmers to ensure that a responsible person accompanies non-swimmers at all times. It has subsequently demolished the wave channel.

Inspector Dodd added: “Dundee Leisure failed to have robust measures in place to ensure the safety of their clientele at all times. The lifeguards working at the Olympia Centre were not adequately trained to ensure that every part of the wave pool was properly supervised, particularly in relation to a potential blind spot within the area.”

FCUS ON...Blind cord strangulation

Two young children have been strangled to death by window blind cords within the space of five days. The unrelated accidents both took place in Staffordshire.

The first death was that of a three-year-old boy from Lichfield. It was followed by the death of a 16-month-old baby girl from Stafford.

It had been thought that one or two young children died each year in the UK from blind cord strangulation – though this number could be higher, as not every death is reported in the press. However, two deaths in the same week and in the same county is unheard of.

 What can parents and carers do?

Children under four are at greatest risk. They’re full of energy and love to climb up – on a toy chest, chair, bookcase, chest of drawers or even a radiator thermostat – to see out of the window or reach a favourite toy. But if they lose their balance and the blind cord gets tangled round their neck, strangulation can take place in seconds, as they struggle to get free.

It’s even been known for crawling babies to get tangled in long blind cords hanging down onto the floor or for babies to get caught in blind cords hanging into their cots.

Taking a few simple precautions can significantly reduce the risk of strangulation:

·         Make sure all looped blind cords and chains are safely out of children’s reach.

·         Move your child’s cot, bed, highchair or playpen away from a window blind.

·         If you can, move other furniture away from a window blind too.

 

There are lots of safety devices on the market that you can use to secure blind cords safely out of harm’s way – including simple cleat hooks that you can wrap the blind cord around.

 

 

 

 

Blind cord cleats

Examples of blind cord cleats

If you’re buying new blinds, look for ones with inbuilt safety features like chains that break apart when excessive force is applied, pulleys/devices that hold the blind cord tightly in place or blinds that don’t use looped cords at all, for example, those that use wands to operate the blind mechanism.

All members of the British Blind and Shutter Association sell blinds that meet new European safety standards. To find a member in your area go to their website http://www.bbsa.org.uk/.


 

 
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