Fifteen pupils, aged between seven and eight, and their teacher had the ceiling collapse onto them at Rosemead Preparatory School in south London at around 9.30am on 15th November 2021.
Debris falling onto the class included tables and chairs that were stored in the attic above. The children and their teacher suffered broken bones, cuts and concussion.
Emergency services attended the school on Thurlow Park Road in West Dulwich following the incident. The teacher and several pupils were taken to hospital for assessment and treatment.
A Health & Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the attic was not designed to be load bearing and was unsuitable for furniture storage. This is what caused the ceiling to collapse.
Thurlow Educational Trust had failed to properly consider whether the attic was an appropriate area for storage and it had not undertaken any structural or load bearing capability assessments.
Thurlow Educational Trust pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay £7,116.31 in costs at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 29th August 2023.
HSE inspector Samuel Brown said: “This incident has resulted in injuries to multiple young children due to the failings of the school to ensure that chairs and tables were safely stored above their classroom. Schools should be a place where children can come to learn from teachers and one another without having to worry about their safety.
“Fortunately, this incident did not cause any more serious injuries, but the mental and emotional impact of such an event should not be understated.
“Employers need to take action to ensure that building stability and solidity problems are not caused through overloading areas not designed to bear weight. As proven, the failure to do so can have severe consequences.”
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