To consider not sending DD back to pre-school after accident?

[Rainatnight]

DD (3) started pre-school (a nursery attached to a primary school) on Monday.

Today, she had a bad accident. We’re still a bit unclear exactly what happened, but the upshot is that her hand got caught in a big metal gate, opened by a TA, crushing the middle finger.

We spent the day in A and E, and it’s been operated on. The doctors described it as a very bad injury, and were very surprised the gate didn’t have anything on it (like that plastic covering you sometimes see on the edges of doors).

It was awful. DD was obviously incredibly distressed. Her little school uniform was covered in blood. I didn’t look at the finger while the doctors did, but DP said it looked like a banana that had been peeled. I feel sick just thinking about it.

When we feel calmer, we need to collect our thoughts and decide what to do.

Right now, my gut feeling is that no way are they getting my child back. But I don’t know if that’s reasonable cos I’m very emotional.

So I’m interested in thoughts.

And would be good if anyone who works in schools could let me have their perspective, plus anything I should ask at a meeting with the school.

Report them to the health and safety executive. They will come in and investigate and also ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to prevent this happening to another child.
I have done this myself after my ds got concussion and then a week later a fractured cheekbone. I also pulled him from said nursery

If this is your local school then I would absolutely get dc back to the preschool ASAP to avoid fear of the place.
However first I’d want to go there myself and see the gate and be talked through what happened. You’ll see if it’s clearly a hazard or if it was a freak accident and you can talk about what they’re going to do to prevent it happening again.
Only if they refuse to engage would I be thinking of changing school.

OP what you do is completely up to you but I just wanted to say hugs my little 3 year old has just been operated on, I've seen him in agonising pain and bleeding. But I'd known it was coming from birth so I had a long time to try and prepare myself for it.

This must have been such a shock I can't even imagine. I'd feel EXACTLY like you do right now. I'd have massive trust issues with the Nursery, all my instincts would tell me my baby wasn't safe there and I'd be filled with rage and be looking for someone to blame. I'd want to know every single little minor detail about what happened. I'd want the gate throughly inspected and safety checked.

Looking from the outside in when it isn't your child you can think more rationally and accept that accidents can happen anywhere and no Nursery can ever be 100% safe no matter how hard it tries to be. No child in there can have adult eyes on them every second, there simply isn't enough staff. Accidents will happen all the time. But accidents that are THIS extreme need thoroughly investigating to find out if it could've been prevented.

I really hope your DD is recovering well now and she doesn't let this experience make her scared of Nurseries xx

Nope nope nope they'd never see my child again and I'd be suing the bollocks off them if my child couldn't write/type properly due to loss of future income etc.
They broke your baby. How can anyone be like "oh accidents happen" FFS.

(obviously writing/typing when they're old enough lol not right now).

I’d see a solicitor and discuss your options.
You need to consider what if there are long term medical implications for your daughter, that might not be apparent at the moment.
Yes it was an accident but that doesn’t mean that her daughter should accept suffering the consequences for the rest of her life without recompense, just because the TA didn’t mean for it to happen.
Children often recover well from straightforward broken bones but neural damage can have long term complications.

I think you need to sleep on it at least, have a meeting with the school and take it from there. There must have been a reason you chose this school - is that still enough for you to continue?
It sounds horrible, hugs to you and your dd

I meant nerve damage not neural. Silly iPad.

Your poor DD, that must have been very painful and scary for her. If it was my DD I would want the school to investigate thoroughly how it happened and put steps in place to prevent it happening again to another child.

As an earlier PP said, I think this is a reportable incident that is covered by some sort of Health and Safety governance.

How is your DD doing now? I hope she gets better soon

Sue? Ffs you silly person.

Not necessarily. Need to find out the facts first, but it could well be that someone was responsible and at fault. Shouldn't be leaping to either extreme conclusion yet but it's absolutely a possibility.

I had a similar thing happen 33 years ago when my middle finger got trapped in the hinge of a heavy wooden school door.

I was lucky that it didnt need surgery, but I remember it quite distinctly and think it was only because the door was so old and wooden that I escaped with only a broken finger and severe bruising. I still have a slightly deformed finger now!

To be honest, I wouldn't expect that kind of accident to STILL be possible in a school environment. hinges on gates and doors ought to be protected with guards to prevent this.

This isn't 'just an accident' this is negligence and you deserve answers.

My feelings would be to find alternative care, if there is this kind of lapse, what other Health & Safety dangers are there?

Accidents happen, this was an accident. I shut my dds finger in a door the other day, should my dh sue me and banish me from the house? Like me, I'm sure the TA feels fucking horrific and things WILL be done to sort the situation.

I have worked at a primary school where a similar accident occurred, albeit with an internal door, at the after-school provision and to a slightly older child. The door didn't have guards on the hinge side (none of the internal doors did). The boy required plastic surgery on his fingers, iirc.

The parents didn't sue, nor did they remove him. But they insisted safety measures were put in place (all internal doors got hinge-side guards) and there was a review of safety procedures for entry/exit to the sessions.

Make sure you speak to the head (at the very least the deputy, but really the head should be dealing with this). Ask to see the accident log and any other paperwork, like copies of statements, so you have a complete picture of what happened. Ask them what they plan to do now. Make notes of what's discussed. Set a date for a follow-up meeting so they have a chance to put safety measures in place. Anything they said should be acted on in a reasonably quick timescale. If they don't act with urgency, I'd be wondering why.

Only you can decide I'd you want to remove your DD or sue, but please at least listen to what they have to say before you decide. Accidents like this do occur, unfortunately. While educational establishments do everything they can to be completely safe, like anything there can be unforeseen incidents.

I really hope your DD recovers soon.

School should complete a serious accident form which they send a copy to the department. They will investigate. They keep a copy at school which you can request a copy of.

You should sue on behalf of your child. The payment is there to cover her injury and help prevent further injury to other children. I’d be annoyed if this happened to my child and someone else hadn’t reported in properly.

It’s her compensation paid for from insurers NOT the school - they will have liability cover with a nil excess.

Claim what’s her and keep it for her when’s she’s older.

I think (although I'm no expert) that this injury would be RIDDOR-reportable (guide here). I would certainly ask the school if they have made a RIDDOR report - if only to gauge how aware they are of their Health and Safety obligations.

The point someone made earlier about how your DD will be going back there and seeing those gates again and again is a good one - you'll need to think about this when a bit of time has passed. Hope she's OK.

When you say big metal gate, how big?

There's a point where there's a legal requirement to have gates serviced annually and have safety edges fitted. Its precisely to prevent this type of injury. If that's not been done, and should have been, it's a whole different ballgame.

Even if not that, I would have expected guards, soft closers and protocols in that environment.

I agree that you need to find out more, see the gate etc when you have had time to process it then go from there.

I am sure the TA will be absolutely gutted and feel awful, it is not necessarily her fault as a person it may be the safety products such as the finger guards etc. Or she may have not been paying attention or had too many children. It may be worth asking what the ratio of adults to children was at the time.

I'm a teacher and I was sat on a chair when a child crawled behind me and I moved my chair at the very badly timed moment onto the child's finger. Lots of blood but no lasting damage or hospital required etc. I rang the parents straight away (after treating the child and apologising like crazy) to explain and say sorry and how awful I felt. The mum was so chilled out and when she came told me not to worry but I barely slept that night until I saw the child the next day.

I would say before you decide to pull her out, investigate further and see what happens from here, if you get apologies or if anything changes. Also did she receive adequate first aid, that would make a difference to me.

Hope she gets better soon!

Agree with Hassled a pp.
In a work environment this would be a RIDDOR situation. I have no experience in schools but I would hope it's treated as seriously (if not more so).
I would enquire with them how they intend to proceed. Hope you little one recovers quickly bless her.

They will have a meeting probably have already and consider methods to stop it happening again.

Believe me the TA will be beside herself accidents do happen and children sometimes do things you never could have imagined. We had one put his arm through to get a ball that had rolled out and got himself jammed in big, metal gates. I sent a message to get the fire brigade while I held him to prevent his lungs being squashed and the secretary thought I was joking until I collared a YR ^ to ask how long they would be. I had no phone on me. Then she rang and they were there within minutes they used some bellow type things to get him out. In 25 years no one has ever done it before or since.

I hope she is all right poor little poppet.

DD had an accident at school caused by an outside contractor’s negligence. A metal safety fence fell on her. She was hurt and frightened.

We sued them, no win no fee, and DD got about £1000 which came in quite handy when she went to uni.

Ask and find out what happened. How can it be prevented from happening again?

What good is suing going to do? Unless you are seriously out of pocket there’s no real need. Assuming you are in the UK the NHS pays and we all reimburse it. (which I’m happy to do.)

Any money would, perhaps, be better spent buying a guard for the gate to prevent a recurrence.

Can this sort of thing be prevented? I don't agree with ... sue. Really I don't.

My DD at about 5, decided to do rolys round a metal handrail over a concrete step. She slipped and cut the back of her head open badly, needed lots of stitches, when I arrived at hospital it looked like the back half of her head was hanging open. They poked it back in and stitched her up. It was the sort of accident that couldn't have been anticipated. Do you now ban gates and handrails?

It is RIDDOR reportable in this category I think. You want to make sure that has happened and it is being followed up.

Non fatal accidents to non-workers (eg members of the public)
Accidents to members of the public or others who are not at work must be reported if they result in an injury and the person is taken directly from the scene of the accident to hospital for treatment to that injury. Examinations and diagnostic tests do not constitute ‘treatment’ in such circumstances.

More details here:

www.hse.gov.uk/riddor/reportable-incidents.htm

Why do people get so triggered at the thought that someone may sue for compensation - especially when we are talking about a little girl who had her finger crushed in her first week at pre school and had to have an operation.

Is it simply jealousy or are you buying into the lie that the country has no money for our schools?

BrendasUmbrella
Totally agree with you!!

A claim costs insurers, which is paid for by government to protect their liability.