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Bosses sorry for leak
COUNCIL bosses last night apologised to parents after admitting a breach of health and safety laws that saw carbon monoxide leak into a children’s classroom.
Gateshead Council was ordered to pay a £10,000 fine after pleading guilty to the incident at Crookhill Primary School, Ryton, where 25 children and two teachers were taken to hospital.
Magistrates heard that a number of faults with the flue system from a boiler had caused the poisonous gas to leak into the classroom above the plant room, putting some pupils at “significant risk”.
The incident came to light when a supply teacher complained of a headache and reported that pupils looked “grey and washed out and not as responsive as normal” during the morning of November 14, 2006. After morning break, the teacher’s headache became worse and a teaching assistant also complained of a headache before one boy “fell to his knees” in the classroom.
The alarm was then raised to close the entire school and paramedics were called.
The 25 pupils and two members of staff were taken to Newcastle General Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead.
Prosecuting, Michael Bone, from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), told how tests revealed some of the children had carbon monoxide levels ranging from 3.8% to 17.1% in their bodies. He said: “Some of those affected had been at significant risk. Parents described long-standing symptoms over a period of two weeks including headaches and nausea which was not experienced at weekends.”
Following the incident, all three boilers and the flue were tested and examined by the HSE experts and a fault was discovered.
The boiler system had been installed in 1999 by a contractor who in turn used a sub-contractor to install the flue. The system had remained like that since installation, while a critical disc was also missing from the valve assembly.
As a result of the investigation, the council’s safety management system was said to be not as “robust” as it should have been and it was discovered that it did not keep records of safety checks at an appropriate level.
Investigators also noted that its quality control was inadequate and there was no specific training for staff working on individual systems.
Dan Saxby, defending, said: “Nothing I can say is intended to excuse the council’s liability. The council offers an unresolved apology to all of those affected by the incident, not only the children and staff but also the parents who no doubt had a degree of worry and distress caused over this.”
Poor boiler maintenance caused the carbon monoxide leak
TESTS carried out by the HSE found that carbon monoxide was being produced by an inadequately maintained boiler which leaked into the classroom above.
The council was criticised for failing to operate an effective gas safety management system and further problems were created when a member of staff responsible was moved to a different department.
An experienced engineer had also failed to spot that an essential part was missing during an annual inspection four months earlier. HSE inspector Michael Bone said: "This incident resulted from a combination of factors. HSE’s investigation showed that the failure by Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council to operate an effective gas safety management system was the most significant matter.
"The boiler plant at Crookhill had not been maintained correctly, causing it to produce carbon monoxide which then leaked into the classroom.
"I would urge all organisations with responsibility for managing gas safety to review their procedures and quality systems."
John Robinson, group director of local environmental services at Gateshead Council, said: "We want to apologise to all the children, parents and staff of Crookhill school for the upset this incident has caused. We take our health and safety responsibilities extremely seriously."
Sent: 21/02/2008
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