School fined over plaster accidentThe school of a girl who lost most of her fingers after putting her hands in a bucket of plaster of Paris during an art lesson has been ordered to pay £19,000.
The 16-year-old girl, identified only as student X, was trying to create a sculpture of her hands when the accident happened in January 2007, at Giles School, Boston.
Boston Magistrates' Court in Lincolnshire was told that the plaster set around her hands and neither teachers nor paramedics could get it off.
Large amounts of plaster can create temperatures of up to 60C, causing the girl to suffer terrible burns.
Plastic surgeons were called in to help, but in the end, after 12 operations, the girl was left with two fingers on one hand and none on the other.
The school was fined a total of £16,500 and ordered to pay £2,500 in costs after admitting breaching health and safety regulations. It also admitted failing to report the incident immediately to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The HSE eventually found out about the incident from a plastic surgeon, six weeks after it happened.
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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