27 May 2020
The States Employment Board was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs by the Royal Court on 22 May 2020 after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989 (HSW Law).
The prosecution followed an incident that occurred on 29 November 2018. A seven year old pupil of a local primary school severed the tip of his finger when it was trapped in an external gate that provided access between the school playground and the adjacent astroturf pitch during a lunch break.
At the time of the accident the pupil concerned was standing on a low wall immediately next to the gate, which was closed, talking through the fence to a fellow pupil and friend who was standing in the playground. He was holding onto the fence with his right hand and gate post with his left.
The design of the gate was such that there was a gap between the gate frame and the gate post when in the closed position, but the gap closed as the gate was opened because the centrally mounted hinges resulted in the edge of the gate hitting the gate post once it had opened through 110 degrees (as shown below).
Whilst chatting, the boy in the playground opened the gate inadvertently trapping his friends finger between the gate and the gate post, fracturing his finger and severing the tip. Although staff managed to retreive the finger tip, it unfortuantely could not be reattached during surgery.
The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the accident identified that the design of the gate, which had been installed in 2016, failed to meet the recognised standards for gate safety used in schools and children’s play areas, in respect of foreseeable finger or hand traps and shear points. In the words of the Court, unfortunately, ‘this was an accident waiting to happen’.
Gate design
As there are no prescriptive requirements relating to doors and gates set out in the HSW Law, when considering the minimum levels of safety required to meet the general duties imposed by the Law, reference is made to authoritative and recognised industry guidance.
The ‘Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents’ (RoSPA) has published relevant guidance ‘Gates and Access to Play and Wheeled Sports Areas'
This identifies that the suitability of a gate design will depend upon a number of factors including its location, the users and the circumstances of its intended use.
Where a gate is likely to be commonly used by young children, as in a primary school setting, there should be no finger or hand traps and shear points, with a minimum of 12mm between the gate and the gate posts on both sides of the gate that should be maintained throughout the full range of gate movement through its full arc.
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