Safety Cases Involving Schools
and considerations for us

🔗NSW: NSW Dept of Education Enforceable Undertaking after alleged ASBESTOS EXPOSURE

The NSW Department of Education has entered into an Enforceable Undertaking following an alleged failure in its primary duty of care at a NSW High School. it is alleged that WORKERS WERE EXPOSED TO ASBESTOS FIBRES over a period of time, and workers compensation claims related to the exposure arose. The activities of the EU will be far reaching, with an expected cost of over $2 million (Jan 2026)

🔗VIC: Student seriously burned during uncontrolled SCIENCE EXPERIMENT 

An after-school care provider has been prosecuted and fined after an UNCONTROLLED SCIENCE EXPERIMENT CAUSED A STUDENT SERIOUS BURNS TO 9% OF HIS BODY. The experiment, for which no lesson plan had been written, no risk assessment conducted, and no risk control measures implemented, involved igniting isopropyl alcohol. The student's clothing caught fire, and panic-filled attempts to extinguish the flames only fanned the flames higher. The seriously injured boy and the superficially injured educator were both hospitalised (Mar 2025)

🔗UK: Supervisor fined for exposing primary students to ASBESTOS 

The Site Supervisor of a Primary School refurbishment project has been convicted and fined after he CUT THROUGH ASBESTOS INSULATING BOARD WITH A CIRCULAR SAW, spreading asbestos fibres throughout the school hall, used for the next two days by students and staff, and exposing them to asbestos fibres. He had ignored his training and work instructions (Jul 2024)    

🔗QLD: University CHEMISTRY LAB EXPLOSION

Following an EXPLOSION DURING A CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENT placed inside a science lab fume cupboard, a QLD University has been sentenced and fined $45K. The explosion destroyed the fume cupboard and propelled shrapnel around the laboratory, embedding metal pieces in the lab wall and ceiling. Miraculously, no one was injured by the explosion (Nov 2023)

🔗NSW: Host employer convicted over student WORK EXPERIENCE injury

A  16-YEAR-OLD WORK EXPERIENCE STUDENT AND A WORKER SUFFERED BURN INJURIES when the biofuel they were mixing, as directed by the motor vehicle repair shop they were working at, caught fire. ​The host employer and its director were prosecuted and fined for multiple WHS offences (Jun 2020)

🔗QLD: School ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR fined over electrical incident

An ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR TO A PRIMARY SCHOOL has been sentenced and fined for failing in his electrical safety duties and exposing school staff, students, and property to serious risk. The contractor worked on an energised switchboard, caused an arc flash that damaged the switchboard, then left the damaged switchboard energised - a serious electrical risk that remained live for two weeks until another electrical contractor identified, isolated, and reported it (Feb 2025)

🔗QLD: School ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR fined for leaving live terminals exposed in classroom

An ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR engaged by a QLD primary school to install air conditioning units left a LIVE SWITCHBOARD EXPOSED in a classroom. He ignored an instruction to cease work in the classroom and started live testing the room's switchboard, then left the live switchboard unattended for a short time, with its panel removed and live terminals exposed. He was fined $10,000 with no conviction recorded because of mitigating circumstances (Feb 2025)

🔗QLD: School AIR CONDITIONING CONTRACTOR fined for cutting into ASBESTOS

A Principal Contractor, engaged by a school to supply and install air-conditioning units in the school IGNORED THE SCHOOL'S ASBESTOR REGISTER that identified the locations of asbestos ceiling sheeting. The contractor's foreman directed sub-contractors to cut access holes into asbestos sheeting using power tools and hand saws. He ignored an alert raised, and continued exposing workers and other people in the vicinity to asbestos dust. The Principal Contractor was convicted and fined $75,000 (Sep 2023)  

🔗VIC: School CONTRACTOR convicted for ASBESTOS waste at primary school

A contractor engaged to build a soccer pitch at a Victorian Primary school DUMPED more than 100 loads (5,800 TONS) OF  WASTE CONTAMINATED WITH ASBESTOS, bricks, pipes, glass, electrical cables and metal at the school. The remediation cost for a licensed asbestos removalist to remove the contractor's supposedly 'clean landfill' from the school was $1.5 million. The contractor was convicted by the EPA and fined $285,000 (Aug 2022) 

🔗NZ: School Enforceable undertaking after EXCURSION DROWNING RISK

WorkSafe NZ has accepted an Enforceable Undertaking from the board of a NZ Maori school after a RIVER EXCURSION INCIDENT INVOLVING PRIMARY STUDENTS. The school took students floating down the Waikato River using pool noodles and floatie toys but most were not wearing life jackets. Strong currents put them all at risk of life-threatening injuries before they were rescued. WorkSafe found the school had inadequate policies, planning, supervision, and emergency procedures in place and should not have let the activity go ahead (Oct 2025)  

🔗VIC: School convicted over STUDENT DEATH on OVERSEAS EXCURSION 

An independent school and overseas excursion provider have both been convicted and fined for FAILING TO ENSURE THAT A DIABETIC STUDENT WAS NOT EXPOSED TO RISK DURING A SCHOOL EXCURSION OVERSEAS. Neither the supervising teachers or the excursion leader had the knowledge or training to recognise the boy's diabetic crisis, and his Diabetes Management and Action Plan, which provided guidance that would have saved his life, was not taken on the excursion. The 16-year-old boy died a preventable death (Jan 2025) 

🔗NZ: School Board sentenced over CAVE EXCURSION DEATH

A NZ District Court has sentenced the Whangārei Boys High School Board of Trustees for HEALTH AND SAFETY FAILURES THAT LED TO THE DROWNING DEATH OF A 15-YEAR-OLD STUDENT and the exposure of other students and staff to serious risk on a school excursion. THE TRAGEDY WAS PREVENTABLE. Warnings and expressed concerns were ignored; specific risk assessment criteria were unclear, and planned risk controls were not followed. The Board was judged ineffective in its oversight and direction of a high-risk activity and, as the PCBU, has been ordered by the court to pay reparations of more than $500,000 (Oct 2024)  

🔗ACT: Child injured at QUESTACON

The Department of Industry, Science and Resources (the responsible agency for Questacon), has been charged with failing in its WHS duties after a 9-YEAR OLD CHILD SUFFERED SERIOUS BURN INJURIES. The child had sanitised their hands with an alcohol-based sanitiser, supplied by Questacon, then touched a plasma globe. A spark from the plasma globe ignited the residue sanitiser on the child's hands which caught fire, causing serious burns to their hands and wrists (Aug 2024)

🔗VIC: Dept of Ed and Centre sentenced over STUDENT DROWNING 

A Victorian pool operator and the Department of Education have been convicted and fined for failing to manage easily foreseeable risks, which allowed the DROWNING OF AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD BOY while on a school camp (May 2024)

🔗VIC: Students INJURED on HIGH ROPES course

A Victorian Adventure Park operator (The Summit Pty Ltd, Latrobe Valley) has been convicted and fined $100,000 following the NEAR-FATAL STRANGLING OF A SCHOOL STUDENT whose helmet strap became entangled in a high ropes course wire. The student was rescued by a teacher, without safety gear, because the Park's emergency response procedures were inadequate. Although the Park had the primary responsibility, schools are urged to satisfy themselves that Adventure Park Safety and Emergency Management Plans and procedures are adequate before approving school excursions to those venues (Apr 2024)  

🔗QLD: Teacher convicted over EXCURSION DROWNINGS

​A teacher has been convicted and fined following the DROWNING OF TWO INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS DURING A SCHOOL EXCURSION on K'gari (Fraser Island). The deaths were judged by the court to have been preventable, and the teacher was found negligent (Apr 2024)   

🔗SA: School convicted over STUDENT DROWNING during excursion 

Following the TRAGIC DROWNING OF A 16-YEAR-OLD STUDENT on a school excursion, a school in Adelaide has been convicted and fined for failing to provide safe extra-curricular activities for their students. The student drowned after he jumped into the sea to rescue another student who had lost his balance and fallen off the rocks from which they were rock fishing (Aug 2023)  

🔗NZ: School board sentenced over school KAYAK TRIP INCIDENT 

A NZ school's Board of Trustees has been sentenced for the school's excursion safety management failures associated with two STUDENTS' TRAUMATIC OCEAN KAYAK CAPSIZE AND NEAR-FATAL ENTRAPMENT in a sea cave during a school excursion (Feb  2023)

🔗NZ: School EU after SNORKELING ACTIVITY DROWNING

WorkSafe NZ has accepted an EU from a NZ secondary school Board of Trustees following the FATAL DROWNING OF A STUDENT DURING A SUPERVISED SNORKELLING ACTIVITY. The events that led to a student's drowning involved a failure in the school's emergency management provisions. The EU has a total cost of at least $NZ 200K (May  2022)

🔗UK: School prosecuted - DANGEROUS FIELD TRIP

An independent UK school has been charged and prosecuted for its failure to adequately manage the risks of a MOUNTAIN HIKING TRIP THAT WAS LED BY TWO UNQUALIFIED AND INEXPERIENCED STAFF MEMBERS. The teachers lacked critical competencies; the students were ill-equipped; the weather worsened; the group became lost; one student fell and was injured and another was separated from the group. By its omissions, the school placed its staff and students in serious danger (May  2022)

🔗NZ: School board charged over STUDENT DROWNING

During a school geography excursion a 17 year-old STUDENT WAS CAUGHT IN A RIP WHILE SWIMMING, was carried out to sea, and drowned. The school's board of trustees has been charged by WorkSafe under ​New Zealand's Health and Safety at Work legislation with exposing an individual to risk of harm (Sep  2021)

🔗VIC: Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools sentenced - SCHOOL MOBILE PLANT incident

Following the injury of a teenager, who was part of a Scout group hiring a school campus, and was DRIVING THE SCHOOL'S BATTERY-POWERED TRAY TRUCK when he lost control of the vehicle, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools Ltd (MACS) has entered a guilty plea and been sentenced and fined without conviction. The school, operated by MACS, had no written procedures for safely driving the vehicle, so none had been given to the party hiring the venue who allowed the teenager to drive the vehicle (Feb 2026)   

🔗VIC: Department of Education charged - DT student injured in METAL GUILLOTINE

WorkSafe has charged the Department of Education after a 15-year-old student was injured during a secondary college Design & Technology class. He was USING A GUILLOTINE TO CUT SHEET META​L when his hand was crushed in a shear point between the machine and its table, severing several of his fingertips. It is alleged that there were causative failures in machine guarding, supervision, and work systems (Nov 2025)   

🔗SA: Education Department convicted for SWING FAILURE and STUDENT INJURY

SA's Department for Education has been convicted and fined $225,000 after A DISABLED STUDENT WAS FLUNG FROM A FAILED PLAYGROUND SWING and received serious head injuries. The swing's severely worn shackle bolt supporting the swing’s chains gave way. On inspection, the wear damage to the bolt and parts was readily identifiable. The playground equipment had not been comprehensively inspected since 2012, nor had load-bearing moving parts been checked as required by Australian Standards. The cause of the incident was identified and prosecuted as a failure at school system level (Oct 2025)   

🔗QLD: Student injured in class by UNSECURED BENCH GRINDER

A QLD school has been prosecuted and fined $70K following the INJURY OF A 16-YEAR-OLD STUDENT WHOSE THUMB WAS PULLED INTO THE GRINDING WHEEL OF AN UNSECURED BENCH GRINDER. The student underwent two surgeries and has been left with permanent damage. Three previous safety audits had identified that not bolting the grinder to the bench was a hazard, but they were ignored. The student's thumb was pulled into the grinder as he tried to stop its movement across the bench (Apr 2025)    

🔗QLD: SCHOOL-BASED APPRENTICE fatally crushed

The branch manager of a QLD heavy vehicle repair and maintenance business has been prosecuted and fined for FAILING TO SUPERVISE AND ENSURE THE SAFETY OF A 16-YEAR-OLD SCHOOL-BASED APPRENTICE. The student was left alone to complete a work task under a truck that was on a prop. The prop collapsed, the truck fell on him, and he suffered fatal crush injuries (Nov 2024) 

🔗UK: WOOD TECH bench saw - support technician's finger amputated

A local school authority in the UK has been sentenced and fined after a 29-year-old Design and Technology (DT) curriculum support technician LOST HIS RIGHT INDEX FINGER WHILE OPERATING A BENCH SAW to cut pieces of wood for a DT lesson. Although he had used the saw many times, he had never been trained in its safe use (Sep 2024)    

🔗QLD: School groundskeeper fatally injured - DEFECTIVE EWP

A QLD school and a contractor have both been convicted and fined after a SCHOOL GROUNDSKEEPER SUFFERED FATAL HEAD INJURIES. A defective hired Elevating Work Platform (EWP), used to repair a strip of flashing along a school building wall, tipped over and he fell. The plant hire company was judged to have failed in its duty to make sure the plant it supplied was without risk, and was fined $40,000. The school was judged to have failed in its duties to conduct a safety inspection before the EWP was used and to ensure that a safe operation procedure was developed and followed for the work at height. The school was fined $200,000 (Jul 2024)  

🔗QLD: Dept of Education EU after WOOD TECH injury

The QLD DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION has entered into an Enforceable Undertaking at a minimum cost of $2.6 million following the SEVERE INJURY OF A YEAR 12 STUDENT USING A COMPUND MITRE SAW to make coasters from an offcut piece of timber. The student's left thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers were amputated by the saw, and only his ring finger could be surgically reattached (Jan 2024) 

🔗UK: SCHOOL prosecuted after fatal LOCKER FALL

A UK secondary school has been charged and fined after an UNSECURED LOCKER IN A CHANGING ROOM FELL ON AND FATALLY INJURED A STUDENT visiting the school to attend a swimming lesson (Jul 2021)

🔗QLD: WORK EXPERIENCE student injured 

A 15-YEAR-OLD WORK EXPERIENCE STUDENT WAS INJURED ON PLACEMENT at a QLD metal fabrication workplace. He was operating a hydraulic brake-press machine to flatten metal when the tip of his finger went into the opening of the press and was amputated. The business and its director were both charged and fined (Oct 2020)   

🔗NZ: Student seriously INJURED BY DRAW SAW in pre-trade carpentry course

A NZ Technical Institute has entered into an Enforceable Undertaking with WorkSafe NZ after a PRE-TRADE CARPENTRY STUDENT'S FINGER WAS PARTIALLY AMPUTATED by an inadequately guarded ​Sliding Compound Mitre (Draw) Saw (Oct 2020)   

🔗NSW: PSYCHOSOCIAL Improvement Notices upheld against NSW Department of Education by NSW IRC 

Improvement Notices against the NSW Department of Education for EXPOSING AN EMPLOYEE TO SERIOUS PSYCHOSOCIAL RISK DURING A WORKPLACE INVESTIGATION have been upheld by the Industrial Relations Commission. The Department's delayed communications and assignment of the employee to unsatisfactory alternate duties created stress and prolonged uncertainty throughout the investigation, exposing the employee to psychosocial risk (June 2026)

🔗VIC: Teacher injured by VIOLENT STUDENT

A K-12 school has been sentenced and fined without conviction following the serious injury of a teacher by a VIOLENT SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENT whose behaviour escalated. The teacher was unable to safely reach the classroom phone to call for help.  She successfully evacuated the other students from the classroom, but was attacked and seriously harmed by the student. The school has now implemented a dedicated duress system, response and back-up response procedures. The teacher has been able to return to work (Feb 2025)   

🔗UK: School passerby struck by FALLING TREE BRANCH 

A Catholic Education Trust has been fined and a tree work contractor given a suspended prison sentence after a MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC WAS HIT BY A FALLING TREE BRANCH the contractor had cut, which knocked her into the path of oncoming traffic which ran her down.  The contractor was unqualified and untrained, and the school that hired him neither checked his competency before the work began nor stopped him from continuing the work after the incident (May 2025)

🔗VIC: School convicted over fatal TREE BRANCH strike

​Following the FATAL INJURY OF A SCHOOL GROUNDS WORKER WHO HAD BEEN CUTTING TREE BRANCHES WITH A CHAINSAW, a VIC independent school has been convicted and fined for failing to provide or maintain safe systems of work and for failing to provide information, instruction, training or supervision. Had these been in place, the grounds worker need not have been killed (Feb 2022)

🔗NZ: Early education centre prosecuted for DEAD TREE FALL

An early education centre and its financing company have been prosecuted after A DEAD TREE FELL AND INJURED FOUR CHILDREN AND A TEACHER. The centre had not monitored or managed the condition of the tree (Oct 2019) 

🔗UK: School site supervisor FALL FROM ROOF

​A Catholic Schools Trust in the UK has been CONVICTED AND FINED AFTER THE FALL AND SERIOUS INJURY OF A SCHOOL SITE SUPERVISOR. The employee climbed an unsecured ladder onto a roof to retrieve footballs, and fell, striking the concrete below. The roof had no edge protection and there were no other fall risk controls in place. The Trust had no work at height risk assessment or safe system of work for a task of this type. The injured man remains significantly impaired and unable to work. (Jul 2026)

🔗VIC: Teacher fatally injured in FALL THROUGH SCHOOL ROOF

​A Victorian school is under investigation after a teacher received fatal head injuries in a fall through a school roof.  The 61-year-old man was retrieving balls from the roof when he FELL OVER 3m THROUGH A SKYLIGHT to the concrete ground below (Jul 2024)

🔗SA: Dept for Education EU after FALL FROM HEIGHT

​The SA DEPARTMENT for EDUCATION has entered into an Enforceable Undertaking following the FALL OF A VOLUNTEER WORKER FROM AN ELEVATED WALKWAY where he was working near a temporarily unprotected edge. While carrying a load, the worker fell more than 3m from the edge to the ground and suffered serious injuries that required treatment in hospital for over a month. The Undertaking has a minimum initial cost of $550K (Mar  2024)   

🔗UK: School caretaker FATAL FALL injury 

A 71 year-old school caretaker SLIPPED AND FELL FROM A LADDER WHILE CLEANING A SCHOOL BIKE SHED ROOF, suffering fatal head injuries as a result.  The Regulator found that the caretaker's death could have been prevented if his employer had acted to plan and supervise the work activity and ensured a safe method of work was in place. Schools are again urged to review their Work at Height safety procedures and practices (Apr  2023)   

🔗UK: School prosecuted - teacher assistant's FALL FROM HEIGHT

Following a teaching assistant's 4m FALL THROUGH A FRAGILE CEILING IN A LOFT STORAGE AREA, a UK junior school has been convicted and fined. The assistant was trying to retrieve a desk stored in the partially boarded loft when she fell though an un-boarded section. The court judged that correct risk controls and safe work procedures could easily have prevented the incident (May 2022)  

🔗UK: School maintenance workers' FALL FROM ROOF

Following the FALL OF A MAINTENANCE WORKER FROM A SCHOOL ROOF, the governing body of a school has been prosecuted and fined. They were held by the court to be accountable for the school's breach of Health and Safety Regulations in failing to control the risks of a person falling from a height (Feb 2021)

🔗UK: NEAR-DROWNING DURING FREE-SWIM in school pool

Following the NEAR-DROWNING OF A 3-YEAR-OLD CHILD DURING A FREE-SWIM ACTIVITY IN A SCHOOL POOL, the holiday camp operator overseeing the activity has been convicted and fined. The child, found face down and unconscious under a flotation board, was successfully resucsitated. There was inadequate activity safety and supervision documentation, and appropriate risk control measures were not communicated to staff, understood or implemented (Jan 2026)  

🔗UK: Student INJURED by school neighbour's FALLING OBJECT

A falling LEAD PIPE FROM A CONSTRUCTION PROJECT metres from a school gate struck a 5-year-old primary student walking by and fractured his skull. Although there is no suggestion that the school shared any liability or responsibility, the case illustrates the wisdom of schools taking notice of hazardous activities close to their perimeters and access ways. If unsafe work is being undertaken nearby, and the PCBU doing the work is not amenable to making the work safe, safety regulators can be notified and asked to intervene  (Oct 2025)     

🔗UK: CHOKING death of a special needs student

A UK school academy trust has been convicted and fined £300,000 after the AVOIDABLE DEATH OF A YEAR 12 SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENT. The boy was known to suffer from Pica (eating things that are not food). In the lead up to his death, his individual Risk Management Plan, requiring supervision at all times, was not followed. A near-choking incident two days earlier was not reported or acted on; and two days later, unsupervised, he choked to death by paper towels he had tried to ingest (Jan 2025)         

🔗UK: Student's FINGER TIP AMPUTATED in door

​A school trust has been fined after a 5-year-old student's finger tip was caught and amputated when his FINGER BECAME TRAPPED IN THE HINGE SIDE OF A TOILET DOOR. He was allowed to, and did, use amenities usually by older students, where hinge guards were not installed. The court found that the school had failed to identify the risk of younger children using these unguarded amenities. The prosecuting Regulator has asked all schools to check the amenities young students are using to make sure foreseeable risks are controlled (Nov 2024)   

🔗VIC: School CEILING COLLAPSE - DET prosecuted

​DET VIC has been convicted of failing to reduce a risk of serious injury to employees and other people, and fined, following the COLLAPSE OF PART OF A SECONDARY CLASSROOM CEILING. A need for ceiling repairs was identified in 2012 but not acted on; was flagged again by a contractor in 2021, but not acted on; and was reported by a student in 2022, when further use of the room was stopped until repairs on the now sagging ceiling could be carried out. The ceiling collapsed before repairs were made (Sep 2024)    

🔗UK: School convicted over STUDENT BURNS during concert event

​A primary school in the UK has been convicted of failing to manage an obvious risk following the SERIOUS BURNING INJURY OF A 7-YEAR OLD BOY taking part in a school carols concert. The boy was dressed in a costume made of flammable material that caught fire from one of the lit 10" taper candles he and his classmates were holding as they waited in a narrow corridor to go on stage​  (Aug 2023)