07/01/2011 - Council fined £6,000 over sculpture
A council has been fined £6,000 after a sculpture in a play area broke a boy's foot.
The five-year-old boy was playing football with his brother and friends on Lammermuir Crescent in Haddington, East Lothian, when the 81kg sculpture fell on to his foot, causing multiple fractures.
The boy was kept in hospital overnight and had his foot put in plaster after the incident in January 2009.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) discovered there was no person or department within the council that had overall responsibility for the inspection and maintenance of sculptures in the area. A specialist metallurgical report carried out as part of the investigation revealed that the sculpture, installed in June 2000, was considerably weakened due to a fatigue fracture that had developed over a number of years and which was consistent with people swinging or rocking it.
At Haddington Sheriff Cort, East Lothian Council was fined £6,000 after pleading guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to have a safe system of work in place to ensure the sculpture was routinely inspected and maintained.
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