A recent case from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) places emphasis on schools needing necessary arrangements in place to manage risk. Luton Borough Council has pleaded guilty for breaching Health and Safety legislation when a teacher was recently assaulted by a pupil.
The investigation, carried out by the HSE, found that there were inadequate measures in place regarding the risk of aggression and violence posed by pupils to others. There was also little consideration to reduce the level of threat for the risk of severe injury or death posed by pupils to others.
The incident involved an assistant Headteacher at Putteridge High School, who was requested to deal with a disruptive pupil who was refusing to go to the detention room. As a result, the classroom had to be cleared of other pupils. When the classroom was empty, the pupil decided to assault the teacher, inflicting life changing injuries using a mobile phone.
Luton Crown Court heard that Luton Borough Council failed to ensure that there was someone with the required and sufficient knowledge of health and safety to make sure the risk was directly addressed. The Council also failed to adequately monitor the measures Putteridge High School currently have in place so ultimately, they failed to notice and address the shortcomings. Staff members at the school did not have sufficient training to deal with the exposed risk of violent or aggressive pupils therefore, the threat inevitably was high.
Luton Borough Council of Town Hall Upper George Street Luton was fined £104,000 with £60,000 costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The fine was reduced from £300,000 due to the Council’s lack of revenue as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Her Honour Judge Mensah when sentencing stated: “There is no doubt in my mind that this was a properly brought prosecution. Not to have brought a prosecution in this serious case would, apart from anything else, have sent a completely wrong message to the school, its governors, the staff and pupils, other local authorities with responsibilities under the Education Acts and to the public generally.
“This was a large organisation which, to a very large extent, relied on employees conducting the day to day running of the school as it could not, and did not, have complete control over the daily functioning of the school. However, I am satisfied that the systems that were in place were inadequate and oversight by the local authority was ‘light’ – I accept that no concerns were brought to the attention of the local authority but that equally, it does not appear that the local authority invited matters to be brought to its attention.”
When making a statement after the hearing, HSE inspector Emma Page said: “In community schools, where the local authority is the employer, the local authority must monitor the arrangements it’s schools have in place to manage the risk from violence and aggression”.
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Resource:
*https://press.hse.gov.uk/2020/10/14/council-fined-after-teacher-assaulted-by-pupil/
