Alderbrook School in Solihul has been fined £3,500 and ordered to pay costs of £5,000 after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for failing to ensure the safety of pupils.
The prosecution came after a year seven student trapped his hand between the rotating face of a bench sanding machine and the machine's table edge. Surgery was required to repair damage to his hand following the incident which occured in October 2011, and the pupil still suffers pain in cold weather.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that although the machine had guarding, it was designed for adult use. As such, the gap that existed between the rotating face of the machine and the table edge was large enough to trap smaller hands.
The school had carried out a generic risk assessment which identified the risk of the machine, although it did not seek the advice of the manufacturer and it did not attempt to adapt the machine.
HSE inspector Karl Raw said, "Health and safety management for design and technology within Alderbrook was not of the expected standard. Guidance was out of date, risk assessments were generic and concerns raised in a 2010 audit by Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council relating to this had not been addressed. This prosecution is not about schools abandoning or being stopped from allowing pupils to use machines. It is about sensible assessment of risk given the age and maturity of school pupils."
