School Governors fined after 4-Year-Old Girls Loses Part of Finger in Door

21st November 2017

School Governors fined after 4-Year-Old Girls Loses Part of Finger in Door

A Greater Manchester Primary School’s board of governors have been fined £4,000 after a four-year-old girl trapper her finger in a toilet door.

In September 2016, the girl, who was in reception class, was heard screaming by members of staff and was found with her fingers trapped in the hinges of the door. The injuries later resulted in partial amputation of the right middle finger.

An inspection carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) discovered that staff members had previously warned the former head teacher about the weight of the door.

Inspectors also found that a finger guard had not been fitted since the door was first installed five years prior to the incident when the toilets were converted.

It was found that the school had no system in place for checking and monitoring door guards.

The board of Governors which is made up of seven members of the Diocese of Salford, two parents, one person from the local authority and the head teacher, admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £4,000 with additional costs of £1751.

HSE inspection Lisa Bailey said: “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.”

This report occurs just one month after the British Association of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons warned of the life-long effects of finger-trapping accidents in which they reported 50,000 finger-trapping accidents occur every year and 1 in 6 of these results in amputation.

The importance of having door finger guards in place to prevent finger-trapping accidents in environments such as schools and nurseries cannot be stressed enough.

At Cardea Solutions, we’ve been providing door safety products to schools and nurseries since 1999.

With a network of door safety surveyors across the UK, we offer schools and nurseries FREE door safety risk assessments to ensure that all door guards are in full working order. Book yours online now.

Source: http://press.hse.gov.uk/2017/board-of-governors-fined-after-safety-failings-left-pupil-injured/

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