When, in the name of style and presentation, the potential for a tragic accident just hadn’t been thought through
What happened?
A four year old boy was in a famous high street clothing outlet while his dad tried on a suit. The boy had been playing with the unfixed steel-framed fitting-room mirror. The mirror weighed 120kg (18 stone). It toppled on to him and he was crushed causing fatal head injuries.
Legal Outcome:
The shop pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, and were fined £1.2 million.
What can we learn from what happened?
The first stage of any risk assessment, and therefore, one of the most fundamental aspects of safety management is to identify hazards, and to eliminate them when reasonably practicable. This is reinforced at the first stage of the hierarchy of control.
The mirror weighed 120kg, it was free-standing and could be toppled over. Maybe it could not have been be toppled by an adult gently touching it, we don’t know, but it was clearly unstable enough for a four year old to cause it to fall. Was it reasonable for the child to be in the shop, given his father was trying on a suit? Yes it was. And is it foreseeable that sometimes children, especially four year olds, can play in shops? Yes it is. The hazard was not identified, so the risk was not managed, with tragic consequences.
Source of Information
SHP In-Court