BEVS

Here is a link to a local piece of news you may have heard about . It's about a very young child who was playing with friends when a log toppled onto him and he died. No adults were present .

So very, very sad that this young life has been cut short like this. Locally we've heard that the finger of blame is now pointing at the contractor and the school premises but what of the adults , whoever they were, who were supposed to be with these little ones?

Ultimately who should accept responsibility here.

pricklykina

Some things are tragedies.
Everyone will blame everyone else.
I think it's hard to be a parent. You want them to be independent yet you want them to be safe. It's a hard balance that we don't always get right.
Without sounding all Monty Python, at age 5 I was walking a mile to school with an older sibling. And playing at parks without parents with the norm.

As for signage. Well the kids would have ignored that anyway. We used to play in building sites and half made houses as it was fun.

I bet we can all recall the lucky escapes that we had.

bourbon-biscuit

Well, it's probably too early to speculate in any depth, but it does sound like there's some guidance around how logs that are left in public places should be stacked and that this was not followed.

I agree with your post in part prickykina, but if there is sensible H&S guidance that clearly signals that stacking logs in the way they were is dangerous to the public, then it's quite understandable that the kid's whanau feel angered.

sr71

Clearly the people who stacked the logs and the school. I'm not one for the blame culture, but if there are existing regulations/practices in the logging industry, and it would appear there are, that would have prevented this accident had they been followed properly then it is clearly a combination of the people that stacked the logs, and the school for not ensuring that proper H&S measures were in place for a contractor they employed.

Kids would reasonably be expected to be safe in school ground from this type of accident. I will not judge the parents because I do not know the full story, they may have been there with older kids.

simonsi

Looks like a usual simple situation made complex - high school, 5yr old involved, grounds used as a through-route between streets....makes the concept of "school grounds" difficult and the expectations of the contractor for who might have access would be easily confused. String and signs won't stop 5yr olds who may not even be able to read them....

Sympathy to the family, I am sure whatever they will carry guilt with them...

pricklykina

I am an absolute believer in H&S. I'm defo not one of those "PC gone mad types!" Just too lazy to explain myself properly at that time.

For me, I guess, it's less about blame, and more about responsibility. The services involved can think about what their part might be. Especially when we don't have a culture of suing in this country, it should be easier for people to cop to their mistakes (i say should)

As for the family, I feel nothing but sadness for them. A tragedy.

BEVS

May I just add that this accident happened outside of school open time. The through way is used as an unofficial short cut. The kids were not at school. They were in the care of their adults.

I agree . String and sign wouldn't stop unattended 5 yr olds from playing around such things. Adults would.

pricklykina

It's really normal for kids to play in schools here outside of school time. My daughter plays at the playgrounds of the local schools even though she doesn't attend there. I run around one of them.

bourbon-biscuit

Oh yes, I live opposite a school and mine are always playing there, along with lots of other kids. It's one of the better things about NZ- it's tacit acknowledgement that schools are community resources and belong to the children and families of the communities. The UK schools could learn a thing or two.

simonsi

Not many High Schools have play equipment for 5yr olds I would think...

pricklykina

You'd be surprised.
You know kids, they don't need much more than a big open space and the sandpits for long jump are always good value.

simonsi

Fair comment, just thinking I'd be more cautious with my 5yr old if there wasn't a clearly defined age-appropriate play area...so def no out-of-sight play for instance....

Expat Kiwi

Legally it is both the school's and the contractor's responsibility, both could be prosecuted although the contractor should bear the brunt of it for stacking the wood un-safely. The school should've checked it out and made sure it was safe.

I don't think the parents are at fault, five is a bit young to be playing out alone ( I wouldn't have let mine at that age) but if he was with older, responsible children it's reasonable to believe he would be relatively safe on a school field.

Such a terrible accident and so avoidable.

Bo-Jangles

Isn't that what everyone says they want though, for their kids to be kids and have freedom to do these things? I see some real tiny tots, five or six years old crossing huge great busy four lane roads on their own, with their little scooters going to school in the mornings and such like.

Always knocks me a bit to see them out on ther own and I worry about the dangers, however it is no different to what we did ourselves in the seventies. Nobody asked or was ever concerned if it was 'age appropriate' for a primary age child to walk one mile to school and back along a busy road. Messing about climbing over garden walls, wandering around building sites and factory backyards where we used to find allsorts of bricks, scrap metal, tickertape and suchlike to entertain ourselves, getting chased by some stray alsation dog, jumping over gravestones or being humped by a big fat labrador are just a few of the highlights I recall from my own early years. Were are parents any the wiser to our extra-curricular education? I don't think so.

Did they seriously believe we could be trusted to behave like perfect little angels walking nicely back and forth to school day in and day out.