A leading independent school has been fined over safety failings following a fall in which a pensioner suffered a fractured neck.
Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court heard on 2 October that 68-year-old Christine Bywater had been at Repton School watching her grandson play football.
As she left a pavilion for refreshments by the exterior steps, she lost her balance as she moved from a wooden staircase to a stone one.
Mrs Bywater, from Shrewsbury, 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 her right index finger and lacerated her scalp in the incident on 30 November 2013. She is still recovering.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found there were handrails fitted to the wooden stairs leading from the pavilion to the stone staircase. The stone staircase had a 40cm high parapet along its edge but no guard rail.
Repton School, in Repton, Derby, 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.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Edward Walker said: “This was a foreseeable incident which could easily have been avoided had reasonable measures, such as the fitting of guard rails, been taken. The school has since fitted wooden rails to the previously unguarded edge, but it should have done this before someone suffered a painful injury.”
The case highlights the attention to detail that schools and other organisations must pay to their health and safety responsibilities and wide-ranging and detailed guidance exists to support them in these duties.
Palmers’ specialists can provide comprehensive advice to schools on health and safety issues to help them manage risk and provide a safe environment for pupils, staff, parents and other visitors. For more information on Palmers’ health and safety services, please contact Lara Murray.