In court over school gas leak

Feb 12 2008 by Chris Robinson, The Journal

A NORTH East council is being taken to court following a carbon monoxide incident at a Tyneside primary school.

Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council is accused of breaching health and safety laws after 150 children were evacuated from Crookhill Primary School, Ryton, in November 2006.

Officials will appear for the first hearing at Gateshead Magistrates’ Court on February 19, at 10.30am.

A total of 25 children aged nine and 10, plus one teacher, were taken to hospital after the gas leaked into a classroom.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) alleges that the council did not have an effective gas safety management system and therefore did not do everything reasonably practical to ensure the health and safety of people they did not employ.

The council will face a criminal charge for a breach of Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which states that “It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.”

The maximum penalty in the magistrates’ court for a single offence of breaching Section 3 of the Act is a fine of up to £20,000.

John Robinson, group director of local environmental services at Gateshead Council, said: “We take health and safety very seriously at Gateshead Council and have co-operated fully with the HSE throughout its investigation and will continue to do so.

“This is now a legal matter and we are unable to comment further at the present time.”

A spokeswoman for the HSE said it could not comment further because the case was going to court.