A gate manufacturer has been fined after an eight-year-old girl was crushed by a steel gate at a south London school. Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that on May 17, 2018 the girl had been leaving an evening gymnastics club at the school in Streatham. when the sliding gate fell on her. She suffered multiple fractures to her pelvis
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the case to court, found that the mechanism in place to prevent the sliding gate from overrunning and falling over as it was opened (a small stop welded to its guiding rail) was insufficient if the gate was opened robustly. A manual sliding gate, more than five metres long and 1.7 metres high, was designed and made by Metalart Fabrication Limited. It was installed by Metalart at the school in February 2018 after a paper delivery lorry damaged a previous, two-leaf swing gate.
When the gate was opened at the time of the incident, it became disengaged from the rollers holding it up, when its momentum caused it to ‘ride over’ the stop. With nothing to hold it in position, it fell on the girl. The company made changes to the gate’s stop mechanism on the morning after the incident and a HSE specialist verified its safety.
Metalart Fabrication Limited, of Oldfields Road, Sutton, Surrey pleaded guilty to breaching Section 6(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company was fined £19,327, including full costs of £1,147 and a victim surcharge of £180.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Sarah Whittle said: “The failure to fit suitable end-stops meant that the gate was an accident waiting to happen and could have fallen on anyone at any time with life threatening consequences.”
That section of the 1974 Act requires that it is ‘the duty of any person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any article for use at work … to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article is so designed and constructed that it will be safe and without risks to health at all times when it is being set, used, cleaned or maintained by a person at work’.
And Richard Jackson, founder of the charity Gate Safe, says: “This is yet another totally avoidable incident which could have so easily resulted in a far more sinister outcome. It highlights the importance of understanding what constitutes a safe and legal gate installation – whether it is manual or automatic – and should serve as a reminder to all those involved in the installation or maintenance of such heavy sliding gates that they will be held accountable for their actions in the event of an accident.
“Schools are supposed to represent a safe haven for our children and parents need to be reassured that steps are being taken to ensure that this type of accident does not reoccur. We urge all professionals working in the automated and manual gate sector to ensure they have undergone the relevant training. First and foremost, to avoid any further tragedies occurring, but also to safeguard their reputation and business from the serious financial and legal repercussions of an accident. We are meeting with the Department for Education later this month to discuss how best to avoid any future gate-related accidents in schools.”
