School fined after teacher seriously injured

A North London girl's school has been fined after a teacher was left unconscious with multiple fractures after falling from a stepladder in the school drama studio.
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 unconscious on the drama studio floor having suffered fractures to the skull, wrist and elbow .
The court heard that 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.
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.
Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector John Spence said: “If the school had conducted a suitable and sufficient risk assessment of the light rigging task and ensured that employees undertook the appropriate information, training and instruction available this incident could have been prevented.”

www.hse.gov.uk