School prosecution

[Guest]

Judge said that he didn't want to fine the Council anymore because the money would be better spent elsewhere and didn't want to fine the Head Teacher at all because she didn't have any real power to do anything about the condition of the buildings. Oh, and she had improved the OFSTED ratings. (Quite what that has to do with failing to comply with the law for four years is anybody's guess).

[colin todd]

If she really didnt have the power ( and one must assume the judge was in a position to judge this), would there be any point in hanging drawing and quartering her and then boiling her entrails. The Foyle's bookshop case under the FPA Act sets something in the form of relevant or at least analogous case law.

[Ian Currie]

I simply cannot believe that the headteacher did not have control over where things were stored in her school. It was nothing to do with the condition of the building, it was everything to do with inappropriate storage. It was her own deputy that put the worktops there. They were there for some considerable time; did no-one ever raise questions about them?
Its a blessing no-one lost their life but why did it happen in the first place?
From experience I suspect the reality which allowed this situation to develop lies somewhere between the employer providing insufficient information/support about her liabilities under the FP Regs and a 'someone else should keep me safe (what do we have a H&S section for?)' attitude. Not all head teachers I have met know about the regs, some even  refuse to acknowledge having any responsibility under them.
Whilst the outcome is less than we might desire it is still a serious case and I hope education authorities learn the lessons from it.
 
OK. rant over, but I still have a feeling of disbelief over the sentence.

[Guest]

Colin,
While I accept that a public hanging wasn't called for, an absolute discharge says that whilst technically guilty it wasn't anything much to worry about. The Head had appointed the deputy to be in charge of H & S (and fire) two years previously. The deputy had almost immediately fallen sick and the head had done nothing about it for two years. She did have control over this.
If twenty children had died, god forbid, would the outcome have been any different?
Fire Officers, for all their percieved faults (including spelling) have been banging their heads against a brick wall in schools for years. This will not help.

[Guest]

I would agree that the court ruling sends the wrong message on fire safety.
See attached link re fire injury in Norfolk school.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/3703700.stm