School builders blunder.

Norant

Hello all.

I am hoping to get a bit of advice about an accident that happened yesterday lunchtime at my daughters school.

Firstly im not looking for advice about if i should make a claim for compensation,however i feel that due to the accident someone needs to be held accountable.

My daughters school is currently being rebuilt,it is being done by a national a very well known builders,and they are doing this whilst the school is still open to pupils,the section that they are currently working on is well boarded and guarded so that no pupil can get to the area where they are building.

My daughter is six years old and has only just recently returned back to school after three weeks of being unwell,yesterday she was in the school yard at lunchtime and was running around with her friends when she started to get a wee bit warm,she approached one of the Lunchtime supervisors who at the time was standing next to a rather large.....( it has been described as about the size of a door,but not as heavy) piece of wood,My daughter approached her to ask if it would be ok to remove her coat because she was getting warm.

As my daughter was standing there asking this,this piece of wood,which i forgot to say was leaning against the wall,came down narrowly missing the Lunchtime supervisor and hitting my daughter on the head,and on the upper arm,she was not to badly hurt but was upset,she has a bump on her head,and she has a nasty scratch and bruising on her upper right arm.She was treated by the School an accident report was put in the book.

We have been lead to believe that this piece of wood had been left there by one of the builders,and had been there for a couple of days.

I am not of the mind of approaching solicitors about this or even suing the school or the builders,what i do want is to write to the builders and express my disgust that such an accident should be able to happen on a building site that should have been protected because it has children running around close to where major works was going on.

My daughter has a sore arm today,but other than that she is just fine.....im just glad that the full force of the wood did not come crashing down square on her head.

I hope this post is not to long as to bore the reader,my question i guess is what would you do if you were in this situation.

Thankyou.

Laz123

If it was me I'd speak to the head teacher about my concerns.

smcaul

If your that worried then report it to the Health and Safety Executive http://www.hse.gov.uk/ it would seem to me to be a reportable incident judging by their guidelines.

boo80

Oh your poor little girl!! I don't have anything useful to add, I just wanted to pass on my sympathy. I do hope your little one is not too unsettled by the accident. I really don't know what I'd do, probably go to the school and kick up a bit of a fuss that this was allowed to happen.

trumpton

Sorry to hear about your daughter - that could have been a very nasty accident and a lot more serious. I would refer it to Health and Safety as suggested, and also speak to the Head.

dampdaveski

Norant,
seems like a lucky escape, I would be inclined to ask to see the headteacher and discuss it with him / her, from my experience of dealing with head teachers as a contractor (and a brief stint I was a governer) I think the head will (quite rightly) aim a very large rocket at the contractor and 'flip out' at them on your behalf.
It could well be classed as a reportable incident to the HSE, this is a question that the head could throw at the contractor.
I suspect that you'll be getting a lot of people from the contractors side bending over backwards to be helpful to you.
I personally despise ambulance chasing solicitors with a passion, but if you don't get the 'closure' you need for you and your daughter, it's certainly something to consider.
Hope this helps
DD

tashajayne

I would absolutely approach the headmaster. Sounds like your daughter had a rather lucky escape, hope she is ok!

molerat

I very much doubt that this could be considered a RIDDOR reportable incident but the school head and local authority H&S people should take this very seriously. Leaving building materials in an area that the children can access would I think be specifically prohibited in their contract.

malibusami86

thats awful, i have to say as an overprotective parent i would have been furious until i spoke to the headmaster/mistress........

i know the head cant do anything about what has happened but they can ensure that someone monitors the site the builders are working on regularly to check all is well

i would then phone the builders and speak to the manager and express my disappointment that someone can be so careless in such a vulnerable environment......... he should be able to remind the builders to be aware of any dangers like that.

it makes my stomach churn thinking of your poor girl and how upset she must have been........ bet you kept a close eye on here for signs of concussion or anything but still, its an avoidable accident..........

Norant

Just a quick update.


Quite out of the blue i had a phone call this morning from the health and safety officer at the builders expressing his outrage and anger.He told me that the contractor who had left what i now know as a partition board was called of site in a hurry and therefore had not had time to remove the board to a safer place,he told me it was unexcusable and he would see the contractor and in his words.....Tear strips of the man.

After he had said this i said that the contractor needed to made aware that what he did was dangerous,but i also said that i did not want to see this man punished to the point of being sacked over this error.

Then the HSO said something rather ridiculous as far as i am concerned,he also tried to blame the School teaching staff for not noticing the item and reporting it to the building site manager!

I have been told that a report has been sent to the local education authority,and also to the local County council regarding this matter,i do not know if this was done as a matter of course,it was not something that i suggested should be done.

My daughter is just fine today,the bump on her head has gone leaving only a little bruise,and the bruise on her upper arm is still there and is only sore if it is touched.........Oh and by the way the headmistress of the School has requested that we take photos of my daughters wounds,im questioning why! this is only because this is not a matter for solicitors or we have no intention of suing anybody over this what is quite obvioulsy an accident.

Thankyou all for your concerns over my daughter,what i do intend to do and please correct me if you think i am wrong in doing this,i am going to email the building company and request that they send my daughter a letter of apology,and maybe something to say sorry for the incident...something that is suitable for a six year old.

what do you think?

taxi73

I think you got the phone call from the HSO because the school had to put it in the accident book..so the headmaster had to ring them and because loads of parents would sue they are probably assuming you will.
They were certainly bang out of order and will not be wanting to lose a very big contract..which they probably will if you sue.
I think you are being very reasonable in asking them to send your daughter an apology and a little something suitable for a 6 year old and no harm in asking as they know you could sue.