It is generally accepted that teenagers and younger children need more supervision and health and safety advice than adults. A sixth form student decided to make a cast of her hands as part of an art project, inspired by a similar project by another pupil a few weeks previously. She sought advice from a teacher and was advised to put her own hands in the wet clay.
A chemical reaction between water and plaster of Paris can cause extreme heat which encourages the plaster to set. Unaware of this, the girl put her hands in the plaster. Moments later, she realised her hands were stuck. Other students and the teacher tried to help and an ambulance was called. Paramedics tried to move the plaster but found they could not prevent the plaster setting further. Eventually power tools were used to free her hands and the student was transferred to a specialist burns unit. Her fingers were so severely burned, all four fingers and thumb on her left hand and two fingers and thumb on her right hand had to be amputated.
By law, a risk assessment on the handling of hazardous substances should have been carried out. The students were not told of the potential dangers of plaster of Paris by their teacher and were not instructed to wear gloves or other protective equipment when using plaster of Paris. The school was fined under section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and under Regulation 3(1)(c) of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 as the school did not report the incident. The Health and Safety Executive were informed by the plastic surgeon treating the burns.
If a child has been injured as a result of an accident that was someone else’s fault, accident compensation can still be claimed. Usually this is done by an adult, often a parent, acting on the child’s behalf.
If your child has been injured in an accident that was not their fault, please ring Mark Evans on 0116 212 1056 now, complete one of the on-line forms or text ‘accident’ to 07968 888857 and we’ll call you back.
