A multicultural nursery has been fined £16,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,500 by recorder Malcolm Morse at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday. The court found that the owner, Irshan Ahmed, tried to cover up the reason why a three-year-old boy fell from a first-floor fire-escape staircase and suffered a head injury.
The small boy, Eshan Ahmed, who lives in Aston, fell head-first from the outside staircase onto the concrete below in March last year, after running from staff at Little Hippos Nursery and Day Care Centre in Summer Lane, Birmingham.
The staircase had large gaps on either side, easily big enough for nursery children to fall through. The owner knew the fire escape was unsafe but it was used as a regular entrance and exit from the nursery.
The child was put into an induced coma by Birmingham Children’s Hospital for four days. According to the Telegraph, his mother, Sabrina Ahmed, says: “Doctors have told us the effects of the fall might not show until Eshan reaches puberty as it could have damaged his pituitary gland at the base of his brain that controls hormones.”
Barry Berlin, prosecuting, told the court how the nursery owner, Irshan Ahmed, tried to cover up the reason for the fall, by telling the boy’s mother while her son was still in hospital, as well as Ofsted, that the child had been pushed off the stairs during a fire-drill.
He even attempted to persuade two other staff members to back up his story. They refused.
Dominic Adamson, defending, said the nursery owner erroneously believed the fire-escape was safe because the nursery had passed a fire inspection and an inspection by Ofsted.
The Telegraph reports that Ahmed admitted to one count of breaching his duty to safeguard those not in his employment, contrary to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. He also admitted failing to notify Birmingham City Council of the incident within the required period of ten days, under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR).
Eshan’s mother has said she is disappointed by the verdict, and believes that the nursery-owner should not be allowed to care for children. Unfortunately, it does seem that this was an accident ‘waiting to happen’.
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