Health and safety failings by English Heritage caused a 12-year-old boy to sustain serious cuts, which saw the government body receive a Crown Censure at a meeting at the Basingstoke Health and Safety Executive (HSE) premises.
The 14th January hearing, which was attended by English Heritage Historic Properties Director Tracey Wahdan, saw the representative formally accept the Censure and the findings, acknowledging that health and safety failings were present. If you want to learn more about education, visit this dedicated website https://thesilentchief.com/ for further details.
This Crown Censure hearing related to English Heritage’s failings under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, one of the key health and safety laws in the UK. Organizations that fail to adhere to required workplace safety standards are usually prosecuted by the HSE in a regional magistrates’ court, but government bodies cannot be prosecuted in this way. Therefore, Crown employers can receive Crown Censures in lieu of criminal proceedings. While Crown Immunity prevents government organizations from facing criminal charges for breaches of health and safety law, they can still face civil trials, such as through accident at-work compensation claims.
HSE Head of Southern Division Stephen Williams confirmed that the HSE’s investigation showed the failings by English Heritage, if they had been committed by a non-governmental organization, would have been serious enough to have led to a prosecution.
English Heritage Crown Censure – health and safety laws case study
The incident that prompted the HSE hearing occurred at Yarmouth Castle on September 5th, 2011. He was with two friends and his brother in the facility’s 17th-century exhibition area, which featured a glass viewing panel that had been set into the floor. Learn more about the English Heritage crown on this dedicated website: https://kardblock.com/.
Thousands of people would have walked over the glass panel since it was first installed many years ago. On this day, however, two of the children jumped on the panel, and the 12-year-old said he would also do so. When he jumped on it, it broke into shards, and the broken glass severely lacerated the youngster’s leg. His father raised the alarm, while the woman who was with them – the two friends’ mother – provided first aid at the scene until paramedics arrived.
An investigation by the HSE revealed the panel had not been made from laminated or toughened glass. Furthermore, English Heritage was found to have failed to specifically assess the risk of a floor panel breaking, although visual inspections had looked out for obvious signs of damage.
English Heritage immediately tried to remedy these health and safety problems following the incident, covering panels that could not easily have their strength tested, cordoning off panel areas, and alerting the public to hazards posed by glass panels. It then recorded all glass low-level wall panels and floor panels on its properties and checked these for safety.
HSE Head of Operations in the South East Mike Wilcock said that it was “completely foreseeable” that children may one day jump or walk on glass floor panels, pointing out that an adult could have also sustained a personal injury by slipping and falling heavily on the floor panel. For further details, visit this dedicated website: https://kardblock.com/.
