When two hazards combine to create a foreseeable accident at what was meant to be a happy occasion
What happened?
At a wedding reception, hot food was being served to guests. Inevitably there were children present, enjoying themselves. A soup kettle containing scalding hot gravy was powered by the mains by means of a (trailing) cable, and the gravy had been left unsupervised. A child tripped over the cable, disturbed the soup kettle, and the hot gravy spilled on to the child The child sustained severe burn injuries that required immediate hospital treatment and have left visible burn scars.
The incident caused significant distress not only to the child but to friends and family at a wedding party, which turned a happy occasion into a serious incident.
Legal Outcome:
The hotel company responsible for the catering, pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. It was fined £6,000 with costs of £1,645. The case was heard at a Magistrate’s Court.
What can we learn from what happened?
The two hazards were the scalding hot liquid and the trailing lead. The possibility of tripping and falling was bad enough, but the connection with the hot liquid made it a significant hazard.
It is not known what the exact layout of the arrangement was or how the food was being served, but it would have been foreseeable that there would be a number of children, probably excited, at the wedding, so the tripping risk should have been better dealt with. The absence of supervision also made it more likely that the something was going to go wrong.
Source of Information
SHP In-Court