Health and Safety Case Law Relating to Schools, Academies and Colleges

There are a number of health and safety prosecutions of schools, academies and colleges each year. The following is a summary of some of the cases and the courts' findings. By studying these, school and college employers, can identifiy weaknesses in their own safety management system, implement improvements and thereby hopefully avoid injuries to students & staff. As a consequence of mananging their school or college's risks more effectively the establishments will be less likely to be subject to prosecution by the HSE, fire authority or local authority (food hygiene offences) and also be better equipped to defend civil claims.

The cases have been divided under topics. The date in the heading is the month and year in which the verdict was given. In most cases there is at least a two year period between the date of the incident and the start of a trial.

Competence

Luton Borough Council was prosecuted after a teacher was assaulted by a pupil. Luton Crown Court heard how on 17 June 2016, the assistant headteacher at Putteridge High School was called to deal with a disruptive pupil who was refusing to go into a detention room. After clearing the classroom of the other pupils, the pupil launched a sustained assault on the teacher, using a mobile phone and inflicting life changing injuries.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that there were significant shortcomings in relation to the measures at the School, regarding violence and aggression posed by the pupils to others. No effective consideration was given to the risk of injury or death posed by the pupils to others and measures were not taken to reduce that threat to as low as reasonably practicable.

Luton Borough Council did not ensure that the School had people with sufficient competence in the management of health and safety involved in running the school to ensure that the threat was addressed. The Council did not see to it that staff members at the School had the training either to remedy that shortcoming or to deal with violent and aggressive pupils in a way which did not expose them to risk. The Council also failed to monitor the adequacy of the measures Putteridge High School had in place and the Council therefore failed to pick up and address the shortcomings.

Luton Borough Council pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £104,000 with £60,000 costs. The fine was reduced from £300,000 due to the Council’s lack of revenue as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Her Honour Judge Mensah in sentencing said: “There is no doubt in my mind that this was a properly brought prosecution. Not to have brought a prosecution in this serious case would, apart from anything else, have sent a completely wrong message to the School, its Governors, the staff and pupils, other local authorities with responsibilities under the Education Acts and to the public generally. This was a large organisation which, to a very large extent, relied on employees conducting the day to day running of the School as it could not, and did not, have complete control over the daily functioning of the School. However, I am satisfied that the systems that were in place were inadequate and oversight by the Local Authority was ‘light’ – I accept that no concerns were brought to the attention of the Local Authority but that equally, it does not appear that the Local Authority invited matters to be brought to its attention.”

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Emma Page said: “In community schools, where the local authority is the employer, the local authority must monitor the arrangements it’s schools have in place to manage the risk from violence and aggression”.

This case is a good example to highlight a commonly held misconception that someone needs to be injured for a prosecution to brought by the fire authorities or the HSE. This isn't the situation, cases can be brought where a risk exists, it does not require the potential adverse outcome to have occurred, as this case indicates.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority(WYF&RA) brought a prosecution against Wakefield Grammar School Foundation for failing to take general fire precautions at two of its schools. It also prosecuted the Foundation’s former fire risk assessor, Dr. James Gibson, for failing to make suitable and sufficient fire risk assessments at three of its schools.

This case was initially heard by Leeds Magistrates’ Court, where both Wakefield Grammar School Foundation & Dr. Gibson, pleaded guilty. The Court heard that during a visit to Wakefield Girls’ High School in February 2017, Fire Protection Inspectors noted a number of concerns, including coat hooks lining escape routes and a partially obstructed final exit door. In a follow up inspection, a number of other concerns were noted, including the removal of doors to cloakroom areas. They also noted that devices fitted to several fire doors meant they would have failed to close in the event of a fire. During an inspection of Mulberry House Nursery School on March 1, 2017, inspectors also found that children’s coats and bags were being stored in an area that served a means of escape. The Court heard that while visiting Queen Elizabeth Grammar School on March 20, 2017, inspectors again found coats and bags in areas open to the means of escape. The Fire Authority noted that this was contrary to advice that had been issued in previous weeks. Exit doors in the School’s main hall had also been blocked by chairs and other equipment during the school day, the prosecution said.

The Foundation also pleaded guilty to failing to take general fire precautions at the schools between the same dates. Concerns included the removal of doors to cloakroom areas at the girls’ school and the obstruction of fire doors at the boys’ school. Coats and bags stored in an area that served as a means of escape at the nursery school could have facilitated the spread of fire, the prosecution said. District Judge Marie Mellon said: “A number of children were exposed to risk and some very young, very vulnerable children were exposed to risk.” The Judge committed the cases for sentence at Leeds Crown Court on January 10, 2020. Magistrates will often pass cases onto the Crown Court if they feel their sentencing powers are insufficient for the crimes.

Judge Robin Mairs fined Wakefield Grammar School Foundation £10,000 for failing to take general fire precautions and awarded no further penalty for failing to make a suitable and sufficient risk assessment. The foundation was ordered to pay £14,533 in costs. Dr Gibson was fined £10,000 for failing to make a suitable and sufficient risk assessment and was ordered to pay £5,000 costs.

Following the sentencing Chris Kemp, Senior Fire Protection Manager for WYF&RA, said “WYF&RA are committed to ensuring people are safe in the buildings they use, this includes ensuring the safety of pupils in schools. It is essential that parents and guardians are able to leave their children in a safe and secure environment. “We continually work with those responsible for managing buildings to support them in complying with the requirements imposed upon them, however when people have been put at significant risk as is the case here, we have no alternative but to take legal action against those responsible. This case highlights the importance of not only the duty placed on those responsible for the building, but also those contracted to carry out specialist services such as the Fire Risk Assessment.It is a fundamental pillar in the principles of Fire Safety and anyone appointing someone to carrying out such an assessment or other specialist service needs to ensure they hold the relevant competence."

Kent County Council (KCC) was fined £200,000 after asbestos was disturbed at Lansdowne Primary School. Canterbury Crown Court heard how, on 6 November 2014, an environmental health officer was carrying out a routine food inspection when they noticed what looked like asbestos rope hanging from the ceiling. A prohibition notice was served on the now independent educational trust.

An investigation found that the asbestos flue and rope were disturbed when it was under the control of the County Council 18 months beforehand. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the flue and gasket rope were attached to a steriliser unit that was removed by the caretaker. The investigation also found that neither the caretaker nor the headteacher had any asbestos management or awareness training.

The Council failed to effectively to prevent exposure and failed to provide suitable training to those liable to be exposed to asbestos. Kent County Council pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 10 (1) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 and were fined £200,000 and ordered to pay costs of £21,500.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Kevin Golding said “The Council had implemented a system, but they had failed to take the simple step of checking to ensure it was being rigorously adhered to, resulting in employees not receiving the appropriate training. Organisations should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

Canterbury Crown Court heard that a seven year old boy was at a summer activity camp run by St. Edmunds School. Whilst taking part in a scheduled swim he got into difficulties and struggled for over three minutes before becoming motionless in the water. The lifeguards noticed he was in trouble and retrieved him. He regained consciousness after CPR but did develop pneumonitis as a result of the incident.

The Health and Safety Executive investigation into the incident, which occurred on 1 August 2014, found that the lifeguards were not effectively managed and monitored to ensure that they were constantly vigilant. Two out of the three lifeguards did not hold a current, in date lifeguard qualification. St. Edmunds School Canterbury pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £9669.19.

In this case a school operator and a cleaning contractor were both fined. A 59 year-old from Gerrard’s Cross, was using a chainsaw to fell a mature sycamore tree at Bassetsbury Manor on 22 April 2013. He was helping one of the defendants, Paolo Mule, of P&X Complete Cleaning Services, to clear the site to make way for building work. They had been contracted by Alpha Schools Limited to carry out the work. Aylesbury Crown Court heard that a large partially cut branch swung down and hit the ladder the worker was standing on, throwing him to the ground where he landed on his back, sustaining permanent spinal injuries. He is unable to walk and will be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found that Alpha Schools Limited failed to engage competent contractors to undertake the arboriculture work. The investigation also found that Mr Mule failed to undertake a risk assessment for the work. There was no safe system of work in place, with no ropes being used and the ladder was not secured. The work was not adequately segregated and there were members of the public nearby.

Alpha Schools Limited was fined £35,000 and ordered to pay £25,000 costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It also agreed to pay an ex gratia payment of £50,000 to the injured worker. Paolo Mule, trading as P&X Complete Cleaning Services, was given an 18 months prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered to pay £2,000 costs after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

Essex County Council has been fined after a novice climber plunged seven and a half metres from an indoor rock face at a climbing centre in Harlow. The 15 year-old girl, from Ware was taking part in her fifth climbing club session at the Harlow Centre for Outdoor Learning on 8 March, 2014 when the incident took place. She was climbing on the indoor climbing wall whist being belayed by an eight year-old, who had only attended three previous climbing club sessions. On the day of the incident the eight year-old was using a certain belay device, for the first time. The climber lost her footing on the wall, but her younger belayer was unable to control her fall. She plummeted 7.5 metres onto the floor below. She suffered bruised internal organs, back and neck, as well as deep muscle tissue damage. She continues to suffer on-going pain from her injuries, and continues to need physiotherapy.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found the instructor was not competent to run this type of progressive climbing club session, as she did not have the required climbing training and site-specific assessment. The Court heard the instructor allowed the belaying to take place without use of an additional back-up belayer and without direct supervision from the instructor. There had been no use of a ground anchor or sand bag to counter the significant weight difference between the climber and belayer, and no application of safety knots to prevent the climber from falling to the ground.

Essex County Council, operating as Essex Outdoors, was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £2,599 in costs, and a victim surcharge of £120 for breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974.

Design & Technology

Cargilfield School has been fined following the incident where a pupil sustained severe cuts to his middle and index finger on his right hand and serious tendon damage, whilst using a bandsaw.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that, between 1 September 2015 and 2 November 2017, in the Construction Design and Technology Workshop at Cargilfield School, Edinburgh, pupils made wooden boxes using a bandsaw which is classed as a dangerous machine.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Cargilfield School failed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks arising out of or in connection with use of the bandsaw and failed to adequately supervise pupils while they were carrying out tasks using the band saw. The pupil was making a free hand cut on the bandsaw without adequate workpiece support and was not adequately supervised.

Cargilfield School pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £3,350.

After the hearing, HSE inspector, Karen Moran said: “A bandsaw is considered a dangerous machine when used by adults, let alone children. This significant and very serious injury could have been prevented had the risk been identified and properly managed. All schools should take steps to ensure the safety of their pupils and HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

A twelve year old schoolboy was in a design and technology class making animal shapes out of plywood on 25th March 2014. The class used hand saws and some were using a belt sanding machine.The schoolboy was using the machine for the first time, along with fellow pupils. They were shown how to use it by a fellow pupil and none knew the purpose of the metal guard for the sanding belt which was in a raised position. When the schoolboy put the shape to the belt, it flipped downwards into the gap pulling his left hand forward and trapping it between the shape and the belt. The top of the boys left hand middle finger had to be amputated down to knuckle and was absent from school for several weeks.

The teacher had not received adequate training to recognise that the machine was in an unsafe condition or recognise the risk of allowing pupils to use the machinery unsupervised and without suitable training. The design and technology class had been without a technician for 8 weeks prior to the incident; on the day of the incident the teacher was supervising the class alone.

The London Borough of Islington pleaded guilty to breaches of Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £200,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £19,865.

North Yorkshire County Council was prosecuted after a 14-year-old boy needed to have a finger amputated after it got tangled in a lathe during a lesson at Knaresborough’s King James’ School. The pupil was using a polishing cloth on a work piece as it rotated on a manual metal lathe during a design and technology class when the incident happened on 19 November 2013.

The boy’s right hand became entangled around the work piece and severed part of his index finger. There were six other mini lathes in use by pupils in the same class. He was given first aid before being taken to hospital. After an unsuccessful operation to reattach the finger, the pupil needed to undergo further surgery to amputate the finger to below the first joint. He has needed several physiotherapy and occupational therapy sessions.

The Health and Safety Executive prosecution found that the Council had failed to identify that the practice of hand-polishing on metal lathes was unsafe despite it being used for years at the 1,700-pupil school. The HSE served a prohibition notice on the Council, halting any use of hand-held polishing cloths on the lathes at King James’ School and advising the Authority to take action to ensure similar practices were not underway at other schools under its control.

The HSE’s investigation found that the Council’s assessment of potential risks of using of the lathes had failed to consider all the tasks undertaken on the machine and so had not identified the unsafe system being used by pupils. As such, pupils were routinely put at risk of injury. North Yorkshire County Council was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £28,287 in costs after admitting a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Asbestos

A school and its maintenance contractor have been fined after workers disturbed asbestos at the school while installing a new heating system. Peterlee Magistrates’ Court heard that, in February 2019, T.W. Steam & Heating Services Limited had been contracted by Park View Academy, to install a new heating system in the school building. In the course of the work, ceiling tiles containing asbestos were disturbed, potentially exposing several people to asbestos fibres.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the contractor and the school both failed to refer to existing asbestos registers and management plans to identify the presence of asbestos within the school building.

Park View Academy of Church Chare, Chester Le Street pleaded guilty to breaching sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £3000 with £4785.37 costs. T.W. Steam & Heating Services Limited of Rennys Lane Industrial Estate, Durham pleaded guilty to breaching sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £2,000 with £4,710.37 costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Ashfaq Ali commented, “The dangers associated with asbestos are well known and advice and guidance is freely available from HSE and other organisations. Those in charge of premises have a duty to inform contractors of the presence of asbestos containing materials, ensuring that works are carried out safely. Those undertaking work which is likely to disturb asbestos, or asbestos containing materials, should ensure that building occupants and operatives are not exposed to asbestos. Those undertaking the work should also provide suitable information, instruction and training to their employees. Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

Newnham College has been fined for failings that exposed employees and subcontractors to asbestos during refurbishment of a flat owned by the College. Cambridge Magistrates’ Court heard that in March 2018, employees of Newnham College and subcontractors were carrying out a refurbishment of a flat on Grange Road, Cambridge when asbestos insulation debris was discovered in the floor voids after work had been carried out in them. No asbestos refurbishment & demolition survey was carried out prior to insulation debris being found. One employee, who contaminated his gloves and clothing with loose asbestos debris, did not have asbestos awareness training and spread asbestos from his clothing outside the flat.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE)invetigation found that there was inadequate planning and management of the refurbishment work of a flat when asbestos insulation debris was discovered in the floor voids after work had been carried out in them.

Newnham College pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 5 and 16 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. It has been fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,450.28. Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Sandra Dias said: “Asbestos surveys need to be carried out prior to refurbishment works which disturb the fabric of a building. Asbestos is still present in hidden locations in buildings and needs to be located before work starts that could potentially expose individuals. Asbestos related diseases are currently untreatable and claim the lives of an estimated 5,000 people per year in the UK.”

An Essex school was fined after poorly-planned and managed refurbishment and maintenance activities exposed school staff and others to asbestos. The Court heard that managers at The Boswells School decided to convert an old boiler room at the School into a cleaning store. During the course of this work, asbestos residue on the walls was disturbed and caretakers swept contaminated debris from floors. Their exposure to risk only came to light after a later asbestos survey was completed in the area.

The investigation identified that asbestos containing materials (ACM’s) were also present in other areas. School caretaking staff and contractors disturbed the fabric of School's buildings over many years without being alerted to the presence of ACM’s. Persons who entered potentially contaminated areas were placed at risk of developing serious ill health conditions arising from exposure to airborne respirable asbestos fibres. The School also failed to ensure that spread of asbestos was prevented or reduced. The Boswells Academy Trust pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 – Sections 2(1) & 3(1). The trust was fined £26,000 and ordered to pay costs of £20,000.

HSE Inspector Glyn Davies said after the hearing: “The Boswells Academy Trust should have controlled this potentially lethal risk by identifying the type, location and condition of any asbestos-containing-materials within the fabric of the school, and by implementing suitable precautions to prevent its disturbance. It should then have ensured that such information was shared with anyone liable to disturb this fabric. It may also have arranged for a licensed asbestos contractor to remove any dangerous asbestos safely before commencement of any work. “This prosecution should act as a reminder, not just to schools but to all persons in control of the repair and maintenance of non-domestic premises, of the need to ensure that a suitable and sufficient assessment of risk from asbestos is carried out, and that correct control measures are put in place to ensure that exposure to asbestos is prevented, so far as is reasonably practicable.”

A charitable trust and a contractor it employed were fined for safety failings after disturbing asbestos and continuing to work in a building. The Williamson Trust is responsible for the running of a the Hundred of Hoo academy where Mark Tucker was contracted to refurbish a building block. The Court heard that in July 2012, knowing the Trust had an asbestos register identifying where asbestos was located within the School, work was carried out by Mark Tucker to refurbish a building block without consulting the register.

However, the Trust had failed to complete a refurbishment and demolition survey, and had failed to ensure that the contractors had the asbestos information they needed to carry out the work safely. The Williamson Trust pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £17,000.

Mark Tucker pleaded guilty to Regulation 13(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, and was fined £9000 and ordered to pay costs of £8000.

Science

A chemistry laboratory technician lost parts of three fingers and sustained a serious internal injury while preparing a highly sensitive explosive for use in a ‘fireworks’ demonstration to a class of children. The now retired staff member lost the top joints of his left hand index, middle and ring fingers and ruptured his bowel while preparing the explosive at Bristol Cathedral Choir School. The laboratory technician spent 12 days in hospital after the October 2014 incident.He returned to work in February 2015, he has since retired.

During the court case it was revealed that the preparation of explosive substances had been carried out in the School several times a year since 2009. The mixture in question and other substances had been used in ‘fireworks’ demonstrations. Other explosive substances, namely flash powder and gunpowder, were being stored in the School’s chemistry storeroom. The HSE said the incident could have been avoided if the School had implemented clear management arrangements to control and review the risks posed by the chemicals used in its teaching activities.

Bristol Cathedral Choir School admitted that it failed to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of its employees, in breach of its duty under Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It also admitted failing to conduct its undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in its employment, in this case its pupils, were not exposed to risks to their health and safety, in breach of its duty under Section 3 of the same act. The School was fined a total of £26,000 [£8,000 for the section 2 offence and £18,000 for the section 3 offence] and ordered to pay £12,176 costs.

Work at Height

Brighton and Hove City Council was fined after a school caretaker died following a fall from a ladder. David Mobsby, was working at Blatchington Mill School, a community school in Hove, and suffered a fatal head injury when he fell from the ladder on 3 August 2018.

Mr Mobsby, 71, had been cleaning the roof of a bike shed at the school using a standard-length broom and a telescopic surface cleaner before falling approximately 2.5 metres onto the tarmacked surface below.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Brighton and Hove City Council, the local authority that employs staff at Blatchington Mill School, had failed to ensure that the cleaning of the School’s bike shed was properly planned, appropriately supervised, and carried out using a safe work method.

Mr Mobsby was meant to have been helping move furniture on 3 August, 2018, but had decided to clean the bike shed roof on his own. He decided not to use a jetwash because it was too heavy. CCTV showed him using two ladders to get to the roof, and placing a telescopic surface cleaner and a broom on it. He was told by his line manager, who had an MA in health and safety, not to carry on, but ignored him. He appeared to have lost his footing while reaching for the tools, and landed on his head. He died at the Royal Sussex County Hospital three days later.

The Court heard he had been difficult to supervise, and his line manager had asked the Headteacher to manage him. The Council said it was not involved in recruiting or supervising him, and had not been notified of his disregard for safe working practices. But the Health and Safety Executive said it should have asked schools if any employees were undertaking work using unsafe practices. The Council had supplied schools with comprehensive health and safety resources, including instructions on safe practices when working at height. But in the three years before the fall, there had been 58 times when staff had worked at height with no risk assessment. Staff were not given any training in how to safely work at height – including Mr Mobsby who had not been given any such training in the 17 years he had worked at the School.

Both the Council and the School had been severely criticised at the Coroner’s inquest in 2019 for failing to manage the risks related to work at height.

Brighton and Hove City Council pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

District judge Tessa Szagun told representatives of Brighton and Hove City Council it should have been fined £600,000 for not ensuring the School had effective health and safety measures in place. The Council submitted financial information which showed the poor state of its finances. The Judge stated in her sentencing “In real terms any penalty will impact on frontline services. Any fine would have significant and detrimental impact and that’s therefore something that justifies a substantial reduction in the penalty. This in no way detracts from the seriousness of the offence, or the tragic and wasted life of David Mobsby and the impact that would have had on his family and friends.” The Council was fined £66,666 and ordered to pay £5,000 in costs.

HSE inspector Natalie Pomfret said: “Falls from height remain one of the most common causes of work-related fatalities in this country and the risks associated with working at height are well-known. In this case, this tragic incident led to a man’s avoidable death. This death could have been prevented if his employer had acted to plan and supervise the work activity and ensured a safe method of work was in place.”

Southend High School for Boys Academy Trust was sentenced after a worker fell from a ladder.Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 19 February 2019, the injured person was using an unsecured ladder at the School to dismantle a canopy roof when the ladder slipped, causing the worker to fall and sustain fractures to his face, a fractured femur and other injuries.

An investigation by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the School did not have a risk assessment or safe system for dismantling the canopy roof which resulted in the work being conducted unsafely. No assessment was made as to the fragility of the roof before accessing it, suitable equipment was not provided, the injured person was not trained and the work was not supervised. The investigation also found that other work at height at the School was also carried out without specific planning, supervision and was not carried out safely. Southend High School for Boys Academy Trust pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £24,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,446.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Eleanor Kinman said: “Falls from height remain one of the most common causes of work-related fatalities in this country and the risks associated with working at height are well known. Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary information, instruction and training to their workers in the safe system of working. If a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the serious injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented.”

Central Bedfordshire Council has been sentenced after a worker fell from a roof. Luton Magistrates’ Court heard that on 19 December 2017, the injured person was climbing on to the roof of a school from a stepladder to retrieve a child’s shoe when he fell. He sustained eight broken ribs, a grade four lacerated liver and a punctured lung.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the Council did not have a risk assessment or safe system for working at height in place to retrieve items from the roof. Central Bedfordshire Council of Priory House, Monks Walk, Chicksands, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4 (1) of Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £9,308.00 with £7,699.32 costs .

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector, Rubeena Surnam, said: “Falls from height remain one of the most common causes of work-related fatalities in this country and the risks associated with working at height are well known. Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary information, instruction and training to their workers. If a safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the serious injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented.”

Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that on 9 May 2016 a teacher was conducting rigging and adjustments to spotlights and cabling in the School drama studio when he fell from a stepladder. A fellow teacher present in the room turned to find her colleague had fallen from the ladder and was unconscious on the drama studio floor having suffered multiple fractures to the skull, wrist and elbow as a result of the impact.

The Court also heard that the defendant, Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School of Barnet, North London, had inadequately risk assessed work at height in its Drama Studio and had failed to provide the teachers conducting the work with sufficient training for work at height, despite these matters being requirements in its own health and safety policy, and despite the presence of a health and safety e-learning tool available for teachers and other staff to use, which included a module on work at height, but which was only made mandatory after the incident.

Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School, the legal entity controlling the Academy converter school, pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 6(3) of The Work at Height Regulations 2005, was fined £2000 and ordered to pay full prosecution costs.

A school in Brentwood pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations after a worker was injured as he fell from a roof. The Court heard how in January 2014 a maintenance team at the School was working to replace components on a bay window of a residential flat within the School grounds. A 63-year-old employee was working on the roof of the bay window when his foot got caught and he fell approximately 2.6metres to the ground below. He was taken to hospital and was found to have suffered injuries including a broken collarbone and chipped vertebrae.

The investigation into the incident found that there were no effective guardrails or any other means of protection to prevent workers from falling from the roof. There were no supervisory arrangements and the work was not carried out in a safe manner. Brentwood School Charitable Incorporated Organisation pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, and was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £6,477.10 in costs.

A school caretaker was fatally injured when he fell from an unstable ladder – which may have been built as a stage prop. Malcolm Bevan, aged 66, was killed when the ladder slipped and he fell only about two and a half metres while climbing into the loft at Plymstock School, a court heard. Mr Bevan and a colleague had found the ladder beneath the hatch when asked to fetch a bookcase from the attic near the drama department. The School stated that nobody knew where the ladder had come from – and the "best guess" was that it was a stage prop. The wooden ladder was too short for the job, had no grip on its base and no weight markings. Mr Bevan's legs were tangled in the rungs and he fell on his head.

Mr. Bevan died in hospital two weeks later. In an emotional statement read to the court, his widow Joan said: "His life was cut short by an accident caused by a failure to apply simple rules and regulations, which are not expensive and should have been in place. "For that I am angry with the School and will never be able to forgive that." But she urged that the secondary school was not given such a huge fine that the education of students would suffer. His honour Justice James Dingemans fined the school £18,000 and ordered that it pay £11,300 costs. He said he recognised the family's desire not to penalise children at the school. The money is roughly equivalent to the "unallocated funds" in the budget.

Judge Dingemans said: "The ladder was undoubtedly inappropriate. There was some suggestion that it was intended as a prop in a school play, though I am not in a position to make any finding."

The school had earlier admitted failing to discharge its duty to safeguard the health and safety of its employees, including Mr Bevan and Mr Freeman, on or before July 18, 2014.

Burnley College was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £7,600 in costs after an employee was severely injured when he fell three metres while changing an air filter on an extraction system.

The sixth form and further education college was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive after an investigation found it had failed to ensure the work was carried out safely, despite specialising in teaching health and safety courses. Preston Crown Court heard that the 63-year-old engineering technician had needed to put his left foot on a cabinet and his right foot on the top rung of a stepladder to reach the filter.

As he did this, on 28 May 2013, the stepladder toppled from under him and he fell sideways, hitting a bench on his way down. His back was broken in several places and he also sustained a fractured breastbone. The employee required morphine for 12 days to manage the pain, was off work for five and a half months, and is likely to need to take pain killers every day for the rest of his life. He can now only walk short distances and has had to give up hobbies such as fell walking and DIY, which he carried out for his 85-year-old mother. The court was told the extraction system had been installed at short notice after the College secured a new contract to train nearly 300 employees from the aerospace industry on working with sheets of carbon fibre. The unit was needed to remove the carbon fibre dust generated by drilling and other processes but it was installed above a narrow gap between a cabinet and a fixed workbench. This meant the employee was unable to use the College’s mobile elevated work platform to reach the filter, which needed to be changed regularly.

The HSE investigation found his supervisor had witnessed him removing the filter in exactly the same way just over a week earlier, but had failed to take any action to ensure the work was carried out safely in future. The College had not given the employee any training on working at height, and had failed to produce a single risk assessment on work at height activities since moving to a new building in 2009.

Educational Visits/Outdoor Activities

An adventure activity and team building organisation has been fined after a child was hit by a car and seriously injured whilst on a school trip. Birmingham Magistrates’ Court heard how, on Friday 31 March 2017, a group of teenage school children from Birmingham were participating in a walking expedition on the outskirts of Birmingham. The route being taken required the group and their adult supervisor to cross the busy A45 dual carriageway near Meriden, West Midlands, at around 4pm. After waiting for a gap in the traffic some of the children started crossing the road when one of the pupils was struck by a car travelling in the outside lane. The 15-year-old suffered multiple fractures as a result of the collision.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Freax, the company responsible for the expedition had not planned the route to allow for safe passage across the dual carriageway. There were no specific traffic control measures in place at the crossing point used by the participants, and the company chose not to use a footbridge about 400 metres away as part of the expedition route. Freax Limited of Nechells Park Road, Birmingham was found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The Company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £22,455.16 in costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Richard Littlefair said: “This case highlights the importance of planning for safety when organising such outdoor activities involving school children". “Children should be allowed to take part in challenging activities, however there is a balance to be struck between protecting children from the most serious risks and allowing them to reap the benefits of participating". “Companies should make sure that challenging activities are managed in a sensible and proportionate way so that children are not exposed to unnecessary risk of serious personal injury or death".

Two Scottish councils were fined after an incident in which a child was found at the bottom of a local swimming pool.Both Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council pleaded guilty to safety breaches when they appeared in court. The Court heard that on 28 June 2012, an 11-year-old pupil from Ferryhill Primary School attended Stonehaven Open Air Pool as part of an educational excursion. During the visit he became submerged under water and was recovered unconscious from the bottom of the pool by a member of the public.

The court was told that the party of 23 pupils, the teacher and a teaching assistant arrived on the day of the excursion but no formal booking had been made. However, the pupils were allowed to swim in the pool which water depth ranges from 0.8 metres in the shallow end to 2.2 metres at the deep end, with a water slide located at the deep end. While the pupils were using the pool and slide, a member of the public using the pool noticed a shadow under the water at the deep end. On further investigation he found the child lying on the bottom of the pool, he recovered the unconscious child and lifted him onto the poolside. The alarm was raised and lifeguards were alerted. He was not breathing and had no palpable pulse, but CPR was successfully administered by lifeguards and the pupil has since made a full recovery.

Ferryhill Primary School is an Aberdeen City Council facility and Stonehaven Open Air Pool is operated by Aberdeenshire Council. The subsequent Health and Safety Executive investigation found issues with staffing levels and lifeguard positioning at the pool, and the effective management of educational visits at the School. Both parties pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Aberdeen City Council was fined £9000 while Aberdeenshire Council was fined £4000.

Physical Education

The governors of a boys’ school in Tonbridge were prosecuted after a 14-year-old pupil was severely injured when he was hit by a shot put thrown by another boy. The incident happened during a routine multi-sport PE lesson at The Judd School on 20 June 2014. The pupil had left a triple jump area and was standing on the edge of the shot put landing zone to check a friend’s throw when he was struck on the back of his head by a shot. The student suffered life-threatening injuries and needed emergency brain surgery on a fractured skull. He returned to school but his injury has resulted in a permanent indentation at the base of his skull.

The Health and Safety Executive investigation identified the School had not adopted measures in its own risk assessment and PE guidance on multi-event lessons had not been followed. Sevenoaks Magistrates were told that there were 24 boys in the lesson, divided into six groups. The students were taking part in hurdles, long jump, triple jump, javelin, discus and shot put. It was a lesson format used regularly at The Judd School and the pupils had participated in similar lessons in previous years. The six sports were spread across the field but the end of the landing zone for the shot put was only about three metres from the end of the triple jump sand pit, where the 14-year-old was competing. When the whistle blew to mark the end of the session, he left the triple jump and went to the shot put to see how far his friend had thrown. At the same time, another pupil was completing his throw, turning as he did so he was facing away from the zone. The shot hit the pupil on the back of the head, causing a severely fractured skull and internal swelling. He was in hospital for nearly a month but was able to return to School the following term. The teenager was no longer able to take part in some contact sports and may suffer longer-term issues.

The HSE investigation found that the School had carried out a risk assessment for PE lessons. However, although it had referenced the guidance by the Association for Physical Education, it did not follow their recommendation that such lessons be restricted to a maximum of four sports with only one to be a throwing event. The School’s inclusion of six sports with three throwing events, had significantly increased the risks to pupils, as had the proximity of the triple jump pit to the shot put landing zone.

The Governing Body of The Judd School was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £1,375 in costs after admitting a breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Magistrates agreed with HSE that the safety breach had been ‘substantial’

Gates

Jersey's States Employment Board (SEB) was fined £50,000 after a school gate caused a male student at a primary school to suffer a fractured finger and the loss of his fingertip.

The incident took place during the children’s lunch break.The prosecutor said that Master A “was standing on the low wall immediately next to the closed gate, talking to a friend through the fencing. He was holding onto the fence with his right hand whilst his left hand was holding the gate. Whilst they were talking, Master A’s friend opened the gate which trapped Master A’s left ring finger. The design of the gate was such that the gap between the gate and its frame closed completely when the gate was opened. The tip of Master A’s finger was severed, and his finger was fractured. He was treated by qualified first aid trained school staff immediately.” The child was then taken to the Accident and Emergency Department and, although the severed tip of his finger was retrieved after the accident, it could not be reattached during surgery.

The investigation found that the design of the gate and the specific position of the hinges created a foreseeable finger trap hazard when the gate was opened.The Court was also told that nine months before the accident that an email was circulated to all headteachers and senior leads by Nick Jewell, Head of Facilities Management for CYPES [Department of Children, Young People Education and Skills], expressing concern over five recent reportable finger injuries to children at school and highlighting particular risk factors that schools should be alert to”.

The prosecutor told the Court that St. Helier Ironworks was contracted by the Education Department to supply the fencing and gates at the School. The Company had provided goods and services for the Education department, in its various guises, for some 35 years. As such, St. Helier Ironworks were fully aware that the project and the gates in particular would be in use by primary school children in a supervised school environment. However, when choosing from a selection of gate designs from a UK-based manufacturer, the Ironworks did not choose one of the specified options which would have eliminated finger traps. When asked about this by the Health and Safety Inspectorate, a representative of the Company who filled in the order form, said that he “must have overlooked that”. The prosecutor added “at no time was the unsuitability of the final gate designs for use in schools and playgrounds identified".

The Court fined the Board £50,000 and ordered that it pay the prosecution’s costs to the value of £5,000.

Salford City Council was fined £20,000 after a six-year-old boy with autism and learning difficulties lost the tips of three fingers when his hand was trapped in a school gate. The child was a pupil at Springwood Special Educational Needs Primary School in Swinton when the incident happened on 23 October 2012.

The Council was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive after an investigation found the Council had failed to act on a report produced in April 2004 which identified the risk of children trapping their fingers in the outside gates. Action was only taken after the incident in 2012, when guards were fitted to 22 gates at the School. The Court heard there was an eight centimetre gap on the side of the gate when it was shut, but the gap was reduced to zero when the gate was pushed open, creating a guillotine effect. On the day of the incident, staff had opened the gate to allow ten children into the playground for their lunchtime break. However, the boy’s left hand became trapped in the gate’s hinges at some point when the children were walking through, and his fingertips were severed. He lost the tips of three fingers, with his middle finger cut off up to the first knuckle. Parts of his fingers were recovered and hospital staff managed to reattach two of them, but he now has reduced use of his hand and amputation injuries.

The Court was told that the risk assessment in place at the time of the incident advised staff to be vigilant and supervise children through the gates, but guards could have been fitted at little cost. This would have prevented children from putting their fingers in the gap by the hinges. Salford City Council was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £3,632 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Equipment

Queenswood School in Hertfordshire was fined for safety failings after a pupil suffered permanent paralysis when a swing collapsed. St. Albans Magistrates’ Court heard how in September 2011 a 13-year-old pupil at the school was playing on a wooden swing in an adventure playground. A Health and Safety Executive investigation found that the swing had collapsed because the supporting timbers had rotted. The heavy wooden cross beam of the swing fell onto the pupil’s head and neck causing spinal injuries that resulted in permanent paralysis. The School was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £90,693 in costs after pleading guilty to an offence under Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Alison Ashworth said “This case shows how important it is that schools and other providers of play equipment maintain them in a safe condition. This tragic accident could have been avoided had the School implemented the findings of its own risk assessment.”

Premises

Westminster Magistrates Court heard that some of the 15 children involved in the incident on 15th November 2021 have been left with lingering trauma, persistent nightmares, and fears of loud noises.

Rosemead Preparatoty School and Nursery was fined £80,000 after a classroom ceiling collapsed with tables and chairs crashing down on to a room full of seven and eight-year-olds. Year three pupils were in the middle of a handwriting lesson when the ceiling - overloaded with furniture in storage - caved in. Teacher Margaret Rautenbach and several of the children were taken to hospital with serious wounds, fractured limbs, and heavy bruising from the incident.

The Thurlow Educational Trust – the charity which runs the prep school in Dulwich – pleaded guilty to two health and safety breaches, and District Judge John Zani ordered it to pay an £80,000 fine plus £7,116 in costs. “This incident was clearly very distressing for the School, particularly for the parents and the children involved”, he said. Acknowledging parents who attended court for the sentencing hearing, he added: “I don’t think anybody could ignore the fact of the distress all of this will have caused the parents, and I hope this will afford them some degree of closure.”

The School, founded in 1936, is housed in a historic Georgian building in Thurlow Park Road, and counts actress Prunella Scales among its notable past pupils. Prosecutor Richard Padley said the collapse happened at around 9.20am, shortly after registration and as 15 children aged seven and eight were sitting down for a handwriting class. “There was a huge noise, suddenly, like a thunderous kind of noise”, Ms Rautenbach said in her statement. “The whole ceiling appeared to be flashing with lights, and we saw the roof just about to fall on top of us.” She said she shouted for the pupils to hide under their desks and threw herself to the ground as the ceiling caved in.

The Court heard tables and chairs had been stored above the classroom in an attic, on roof boards only designed to take light weights. Other teachers at the prep school rushed in to see a scene of devastation, with children covered in soot, injured, and some trapped underneath the rubble and broken furniture. One of the pupils, a seven-year-old girl, was left with deep head wound and exposed skull bone which is likely to leave a lasting scar. The child's mother told the court her daughter “looked like a zombie from a horror movie” as she was treated in hospital, and she has endured nightmares of “hands and feet sticking out of furniture” since the accident. “She was just about to stand up when she noticed a crack travelling up the wall”, her mother recounted of her daughter’s recollection. “She remembers a very loud sharp bang and one of the lighting units coming down, flashing and banging as it fell.” She added that her daughter was left “terrified” of thunder and lightning, anxious on the Tube and in lifts, screaming in fear once when a fire alarm went off, and she carries out “subconscious structural surveys” whenever she enters an unfamiliar building. Mr Padley said the “greatest fear” of the children is “they don’t know when this is going to end”.

The School was criticised in court for “poor communication” with parents in the aftermath, including allegedly refusing to divulge details of how the accident happened. Parents also complained that head of governors Nick Crawford went on TV to say there had been no “life changing” injuries, even as pupils were still being assessed and treated in hospital.

Headteacher Graeme McCafferty and Mr Crawford were in court, as the School’s barrister James Leonard KC said it is “mortified” at what happened. “We accept it should never have happened, and for it to have happened represents a breach of a trust they commit their children into (the School’s) safe care”, he said. He said work costing more than £400,000 had been undertaken on the School after the incident.

HSE inspector Samuel Brown said: “This incident has resulted in injuries to multiple young children due to the failings of the School to ensure that chairs and tables were safely stored above their classroom. “Schools should be a place where children can come to learn from teachers and one another without having to worry about their safety. “Fortunately, this incident did not cause any more serious injuries, but the mental and emotional impact of such an event should not be understated. Employers need to take action to ensure that building stability and solidity problems are not caused through overloading areas not designed to bear weight. As proven, the failure to do so can have severe consequences.” The Charity has been given until April next year to settle the legal bill totalling £87,116.

Bridgend Council has been fined £300,000 (with costs of £29,228) following a the death of a pupil at one of its schools. Ashley Talbot, a 15 year old, pupil at Maesteg Comprehensive School , died following a collision with a minibus on the School’s site in December 2014. The small size of a layby on the site used for home to school transport buses resulted in buses parking on the opposite side of the roadway with their entrance doors facing the road. Whilst travelling to his bus Ashley was struck by the School’s minibus, which was on its way to a rugby match. The Police investigated , but the driver of the minibus was not prosecuted.

The layby had never been able to accommodate all of the transport buses since it was constructed in 2008. Council officers were aware of this but no action was taken to resolve the problem until after Ashley’s death. A second 13 year old was also involved but luckily only suffered minor injuries.

The board of governors at a primary school was fined after a pupil’s fingers became trapped in a toilet door. Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 29 September 2016, the four-year-old pupil, who had been at St Joseph’s RC Primary School for three weeks, was allowed to access the girls’ toilet alone. She was heard screaming by members of staff, who found her with her fingers trapped in the hinges of the toilet door. These injuries later resulted in partial amputation of her right middle finger.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the finger guard on the door was missing as one had not been fitted since the toilets were converted five years previously. The investigation also found there was no system in place for checking and monitoring the door guards. Staff had also highlighted to the former headteacher that the door was too heavy for young children to open.

The Board of Governors at St Joseph’s RC Primary school, of Market Street, Mossley, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and were fined £4000 with £1750.90 costs.

HSE inspector Lisa Bailey said after the hearing: “This injury could have easily been prevented if a door guard had been fitted and a system was put in place to maintain and monitor the guards. The risk should have been identified so that reception pupils were not permitted to access the toilets alone, or they should have been allowed to share the nursery toilets.”

A college in Surrey was fined after a student was struck on the leg by a tree as it was being felled. Redhill Magistrates’ Court heard how the campus supervisor of Guildford College instructed an employee and part of the estates team, to take two work experience students to fell a tree. While the tree was being cut two students arrived to observe the operation. The falling tree hit one of the students who was observing, causing fractures to one of his legs.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive into the incident, which occurred on 5 May 2015, found that there was insufficient training given to fell the tree competently. There was inadequate supervision and the risk assessments were not sufficient and had not been followed. Guildford College of Further Education pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and was fined £70,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,461.

A Derbyshire school was prosecuted for safety failings after a pupil’s grandmother fell off the side of an unguarded staircase. The Court heard that 68-year-old Christine Bywater had been at Repton School watching her grandson play football. She had gone to the pavilion for refreshments with the rest of her family but on leaving the building by the outside steps, she lost her balance when she moved from a wooden staircase to a stone one. Mrs Bywater fell over the parapet on the stone staircase to the ground some two metres below and fractured three bones in her neck. She also broke the index finger on her right hand and lacerated her scalp.

The HSE investigation found there were handrails fitted to the wooden stairs leading from the pavilion to the stone staircase while the stone staircase had a 40 centimetre-high parapet running along the edge of the stairs but no handrail. Repton School pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1), contrary to Regulation 12(5), of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £534 in costs.

A historic private school in Clitheroe was fined £100,000 over health and safety failings after one of its stonemasons developed a potentially fatal lung disease. The 55-year-old was employed by Stonyhurst College for almost 12 years where he was exposed to high levels of silica dust. He was diagnosed with silicosis in July 2011 – four months before being made redundant by the College. Stonyhurst was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive after an investigation found that he and other stonemasons may have been exposed to more than 80 times the daily limit for silica dust. The Court was told the College employed the stonemason as a member of staff in June 1999 as the 200-year-old college buildings needed extensive repairs for wind and weather-proofing. A second stonemason was employed in April 2005 and a third in January 2009 to help with a major project to build a new four-storey, sixth-form building. The 21-month project required more than 400 tonnes of sandstone and the stonemasons spent their time working intensively with powered hand tools cutting, shaping, chiselling and finishing the sandstone.

The HSE investigation found Stonyhurst failed to take any measures to monitor or reduce the exposure of workers to silica dust, despite sandstone containing between 70% and 90% of crystalline silica. The Court heard that the College failed to recognise the risks and no equipment was used to remove, capture or supress the dust that was created by the use of the stonemasons’ tools. Two of the stonemasons worked regularly in the college workshop, which had no windows and no way of extracting the sandstone dust despite an extraction system being fitted in the neighbouring joinery workshop in 2004. Even after the College was notified that one of the stonemasons had developed silicosis in July 2011, it failed to take any action to monitor exposure levels until its two remaining stonemasons were made redundant in November 2011. The stonemason with silicosis has suffered serious and irreversible health effects as a result of his exposure. He has a reduced lung function, suffers from breathlessness and can no longer continue with his profession.

Stonyhurst was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £31,547.78 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the health and safety of its employees.

A Bolton charity was prosecuted for safety failings after a nine-year-old boy with autism lost a finger when his left hand became trapped in a school door. The Health and Safety Executive took legal action against the Birtenshaw charity after an investigation found the organisation had failed to make sure all of the doors at its new special needs school in Bromley Cross were fitted with finger guards. The Court heard that the child, who also has learning difficulties, trapped his hand in the hinge of the door when he went into the ‘quiet room’ during his first few days in the new school building on 11 September 2012. He lost all of his index finger as a result of the incident. The Court was told that the charity, which runs Birtenshaw SchoolRoad along with several care homes, had identified the need for finger guards during the construction of its new school building. However, the Organisation failed to make sure the guards had been fitted before the new building opened to pupils in September 2012, and several doors were found to have missing guards.

Birtenshaw received a conditional discharge and was ordered to pay £898 in prosecution costs after admitting a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

City of Edinburgh Council was fined after a schoolgirl was seriously injured when she fell more than five metres as teachers attempted to free her from a broken down lift.

Morgan Seaton, then aged 15, sustained three fractured vertebrae, bruising over her lower back and a sprained wrist as a result of the incident at Liberton High School on 8 December 2011. She remained in hospital for two days before being discharged and was unable to return to school for a further two weeks. The incident was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive and a prosecution brought against the Council for serious safety failings. Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that Miss Seaton was in the lift with three other pupils when it stuck between the first and second floors. She called the School’s office from her mobile phone and teachers quickly arrived and told the pupils to remain calm as they tried to affect a rescue.

Rather than use the emergency call button in the lift or call the fire service, teachers and the school janitor decided to fetch the lift key, open the doors and attempt to get the pupils out themselves. After opening the lift shaft doors on the first floor, staff could see that the bottom third of the lift car was visible at the top of the door opening. They forced open the lift car doors and spoke with the pupils who were trapped within. One boy was helped to lower himself safely out of the lift down to the first floor corridor. Miss Seaton then manoeuvred herself out of the lift on her stomach until she was suspended feet first out of the opening. One of the teachers stood behind her as she attempted to drop to the floor but instead she fell through the gap between the bottom of the lift and the floor and into the lift shaft where she fell over five metres to the basement.

After her return to school, Miss Seaton continued to suffer pain and discomfort in her back for several months and needed regular physiotherapy and medication. The Court was told the fire service had found on arrival that power to the lift had not been isolated and the car could have resumed moving at any time during the pupils’ ordeal or as the schoolgirl lay injured in the basement waiting for help to arrive. The HSE's investigation found that the Council failed to ensure that staff at Liberton High School had been given sufficient instructions, information and training to deal with such incidents, and that no suitable risk assessment had been undertaken. City of Edinburgh Council was fined £8,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Productions/plays/concerts

St Thomas Becket Catholic Primary School, Croydon, has been fined £35,000 after a young boy was left with critical burns when his nativity costume caught fire during the School’s annual carol concert in December 2019. The concert was being held Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in Bingham Road, Croydon. The injured child was part of a group of 60 year 3 children waiting in costumes in a narrow corridor holding 10-inch lit taper candles. The injured 7 year old boy was dressed in a home-made sheep costume made using cotton wool.

The injured boy’s father described how they were waiting for their son to emerge in the church when people started running outside and screaming, which he sated as feeling like “a bomb had gone off”. According to witness accounts the fire was extinguished with some difficulty and the child received first aid at the scene before being taken by air ambulance to Broomfield Hospital. He was found to have sustained an estimated 45 per cent burns to his body; resulting in “life-changing injuries” that will leave him dependent on third party care for basic needs. The child’s parents described in their victim statements the “excruciating” pain that their son, who no longer attends the School, has been through and is still going through. The court heard how the young boy underwent “countless” surgeries and hospital appointments, which are continuing three years later. In her impact statement, the boy’s mother said “a school should be a “trusted place” for parents and children and would never expect her child’s school to “expose him to life-threatening danger like this”.

Judge Philip Bartle fined the School £35,000 for breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 – more specifically for failing to properly assess the risk involved and failing to take reasonably practical steps to minimise or eliminate the risk. The judge also ordered that it should pay £25,970 in prosecution costs and that victim compensation should be dealt with by the civil courts. Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Sarah Whittle said: “This was a shocking and scary incident that could have so easily been avoided. Common sense alone should have been enough to see the risk. Mitigation in this case would have been the substitution of wax candles for flameless ones, thereby reducing the risk to zero. This was a step the School took after the incident but by then it was far too late for a young child who will be forever affected by this. “The importance of a suitable and sufficient risk assessment has never been made so clear.”.

Radiation

Kingswood School in Bath, a private boarding school has been fined £50,000 after exposing two employees, five pupils, and two other children to high levels of radioactive radon gas.

Five pupils at the School were exposed to levels of radioactive radon gas almost 8 times the legal limit. Two other children, who were not pupils at the School, were exposed to levels of radon gas almost 14 times the legal limit. Two employees were exposed to radioactive radon gas ¾ of the legal limit. Exposures to radiation need to be kept as low as reasonably practicable.

The radioactive gas radon is a hazard in many homes and workplaces and breathing in radon is the second largest cause of lung cancer in the UK resulting in over 1,000 fatal cancers per year. Radon is a colourless, odourless, radioactive gas that occurs in rocks and soils, some building materials and water. The ground is the most important source as radon can seep out and build up in houses and indoor workplaces like schools.

These exposures to radioactive radon gas occurred in 2019. The two employees and their two children were exposed to the elevated radon gas levels as a result of working and living at the School. The five overexposed pupils studied and lived at the School during this time.

The HSE investigation found that the School knew they had a radon problem as far back as 2007 when they carried out monitoring and installed some remediation to reduce radon levels. However, from 2010 to 2018 the School carried out no subsequent radon monitoring and had no systems in place to ensure radon control measures were adequate. Only following HSE intervention in 2018 did the School find out about their previous radon problem and further radon monitoring and remediation was carried out to reduce radon levels.

Kingswood School Trustees Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The Company was fined £50,000 and was ordered to pay £19,222 costs at a hearing at Taunton Magistrates’ Court . After the hearing, HSE Principal Specialist Inspector (Radiation) Stewart Robertson, said: “The fine imposed on Kingswood School Trustees Limited should underline to everyone in the education sector that the courts, and HSE, take a failure to follow the regulations extremely seriously.”

“We will not hesitate to take action against companies, including schools, who do not do all that they should to keep people safe. Every workplace needs to consider radon as a risk to its employees and others.”

Supervision

Bright Horizons Family Solutions was prosecuted following the death of Fox Goulding after he choked on a peice of mango he was eating at its Corstorphine Nursery in Edinburgh.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions, which had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty under section 76 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 and was fined £800,000.

Fox Goulding had only attended the Corstorphine nursery for seven days before tragedy struck in July 2019. The 10 month old was eating mango and raspberries at a table with his room mates. The nursery nurse who was sitting next to him left the room to use a toilet. When she returned, less than 3 minutes later, she saw Fox hunched forward and thought he had fallen asleep.

As soon as the staff realised he wasn’t breathing, a nursery nurse gave him repeated back slaps while holding the boy almost upside down in an attempt to dislodge the food blocking his airway. The nursery manager was informed and immediately shouted for someone to call an ambulance. While waiting for the emergency services to arrive, a nursery nurse and the nursery manager performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). On their arrival, paramedics were able to remove the piece of fruit causing the obstruction and took Goulding to the city’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children. However, the boy was in cardiac arrest and unresponsive during the journey. He died the next day in the hospital’s intensive care unit and was pronounced dead at 23.14.

Police Scotland seized the nursery’s CCTV system and analysed footage of supervision in the Under Two Room for 26 days from 3 June to 8 July 2019. The footage showed that a member of staff did not always sit at the table during meal times contrary to Bright Horizons Family Solutions’ policy. They also found that supervision generally lessened as the mealtime progressed, particularly at breakfast and tea as staff could distracted by parents entering the room or cleaning duties. Police Scotland found there was no recorded CCTV footage of the incident on the afternoon of 9 July 2019; the CCTV system had failed to record any footage while the nursery was in operation that day.

The joint investigation by the Police and the City of Edinburgh Council found that if Bright Horizons had provided adequate instruction and supervision at the Corstorphine nursery in relation to the implementation of its policies and procedures regarding risk of choking on foods and also provided adequate instruction and supervision in relation to the guidance to help avoid choking details in the NHS document “Setting the Table” or similar guidance, then the risk of Fox Goulding choking on the mango would have been reduced. If he had choked on the mango while being adequately supervised the choking is more likely to have been discovered at the time or closer to the time it occurred providing greater opportunity for a successful outcome from interventions. Although the investigators determined that there had been more than the necessary number of staff present for the number of children in the Under Two Room during teatime on 9 July 2019, they concluded that they had not been suitably deployed while the children were eating. Bright Horizons Family Solutions documented procedures required at least one member of staff to be always sitting with a group of children during mealtimes.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions, which owned 318 nurseries throughout the UK, including 20 in Scotland at the time of the incident, ‘co-operated fully and responded comprehensively and timeously to all requests for information assistance’ throughout the investigation. Shortly after the incident, it provided refresher training on safe and effective mealtimes for all its Scottish staff as a precautionary measure with an emphasis on ensuring that children are directly supervised at all times while eating in accordance with its policy and previous staff training provided. The Nursery involved in the incident has been closed and will not re-open.

A seperate prosecution of the Nursery's Manager is currently on-going under Section 3 of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.