H&S incident at nursery

[NoodleDoodle97]

Today, our DD nursery rang to tell of an incident what had happened. For the last 3 days they have been having a new roof. One of the workers today fell through the roof, taking out a ceiling panel. Luckily nothing fell and luckily the children and him were ok but it could have been very bad. Would you report this to ofsted or somewhere else as I don’t think they should be working on a roof when there is children below. The owner of the roofing company apparently was devastated and said this does happen but he’s really sorry it’s happen in a nursery

No. Why does everyone want to complain about everything nowadays! Accidents happen.

Am quite stunned by the lack of sympathy for the poor guy who fell through the roof . I hope he is ok and not badly injured.

I would report this - but it would be to the HSE. Luckily no one was hurt, but had a full grown bloke landed on a nursery child, it would very sadly have been another story. The areas they were working above should have been shut off.

I agree.

This poor person might not have made it home tonight if he had landed differently.

Collapse of scaffolding is in part 1 of schedule 2 to RIDDOR, and part 1 is “general”. It is part 6 of schedule 2 that relates to offshore workplaces.

No it doesn’t.

You’re not wrong. From the few facts we have, it is not reportable.

I'd be more likely to report the staff member for what she's implying .

So you complain to Ofsted. Ofsted investigate. The nursery has to spend time and money responding to Ofsted. They have to explain things to parents whilst wondering who reported it to Ofsted on top of all the reports they have already had to make themselves for insurance

They also have to spend more time getting the roof fixed. Perhaps they were getting the roof fixed as a matter of urgency after the recent storms. Perhaps they haven't got enough cash to pay for additional premises whilst the repairs are done & now it's going to take even longer & cost more.

Maybe they'll decide they don't want the hassle and scrutiny any longer and decide to close. That happened at the nursery my DC attended and we were given 1 month's notice. Every nursery in the area was already full.

Go ahead and report if you want to or just ask the nursery what their plans are to avoid accidents happening in the future. Talk to the staff. Feel concern for the poor chap who had a nasty accident.

Exactly. Presume they would also complain if nursery shut for the day and you couldn’t go to work.

If the roof is leaking or dangerous then they have no choice but work on it when there are people in the building below. You'd also want to complain to Ofsted if slates were dropping off near to people standing underneath, or if rainwater was pouring through while your child was inside.

There will be a full report written up and no doubt some sort of investigation. It's doesn't need you to stick your oar in too.

I still think it's reportable.

The HSE can decide. It's better to report and not be needed than it not get reported and a roofing contractor continue to put their staff at harm.

I doubt they've followed any CDM either.

Isn't this one of those things that you report to HSE and they decide if it falls in their remit or they are interested in it?

I struggle to believe that they'd say, 'nope, a construction worker falling through a ceiling into a room full of children is fine by us.'

I bet she wasn't as shaken as the man who fell through the ceiling.

Let the nursery report it to anyone necessary. Why do you think they won't? You don't even know what actually happened, only what you've been told happened.

And that the nursery should have been required to check the Risk Assessment covered their own risk assessment framework for allowing contractors and work on site. They will have a health and safety lead to check all the risk assessments and method statements conform before allowing the work to proceed.

Nope. I’m sure the nursery will have protocols in place and will report as required. I would, however, be worrying about the poor bloke who fell through the roof!

If there’s a chance that a child could be killed by debris falling through the roof, then yes.

What do you think reporting it will achieve, other than to potentially make relations with the nursery frosty, if they find out. Lots of things ‘could’ have happened, but they didn’t. Surely they will have taken any lessons from this and won’t repeat any mistakes in the future. I’d be more concerned that the poor chap is ok.

Totally agree, construction is the second most dangerous industry and roofers and scaffolders are right at the top of the list.
Falling through a fragile or unprotected opening are entirely foreseeable and should be prevented with well known control measures.
I'd be reporting to HSE, they have an online reporting form and they do investigate
https://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/tell-us-about-a-health-and-safety-issue.htm

I absolutely would. I don't understand why people are saying not to. A child could have died. I agree it's unsafe to have the roof being worked on with children below. You might, however, find the nursery has go close while the work takes place.

Oh god, I do wish people weren't scared to report dangerous things for fear of the nursery being 'frosty'. I know so many parents who have ignored really quite awful issues because they were scared that if they reported them, they'd lose their kids' place at the nursery. Awful!

You council has a safeguarding team. Call the children’s social care number and push the button for safeguarding.
Look forward to the nursery closing til work is complete.

No, they will likely report it to ofsted themselves you don’t need to get involved

No, they will likely report it to ofsted themselves you don’t need to get involved