Rank: Guest 
|
Posted By Steven John Nelson
Hi folks. I wonder if anyone can help me.
We had an incident recently in a primary school whereby a young child got her arm stuck between the hot water pipe & the wall, couldn't get it out for several minutes, after which time she suffered severe burns requiring skin grafts. Our current risk assessment requires hot surfaces such as these in elderly care homes & nursery classrooms to be guarded, but we had assumed other persons in other establishments could remove themselves from this [hot] hazard. It appears that we need to identfy a wider range of persons vulnerable to this kind of incident (eg all children not just nursery age), and survey establishments frequented by these vulnerable persons for potential places of entrapment. This would - I guess- involve looking for gaps within a certain range (eg >20mm &/or 70 mm). Can anyone please provide any advice, especially on the dimensions of gaps that offer the potential for entrapment, about managing this risk ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Jonathan Breeze
It strikes me that the areas most likely to get trapped are at the knuckles, wrist and elbow joints as these are where flexibility and natural thickening occur.
The obsolescent BS 5304 specifies the maximum safe gaps in fixed guarding and may be of use - but be aware that this is not it's prime purpose and the dimensions are probably based on a "standard human male" whereas you are dealing with children, (greater size variation, but are generally smaller and more sensitive to burns).
If you box the pipes off then you will eliminate the problem, but I guess doing this for all the schools on your patch may be prohibitive if you have a fixed budget.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Philip Beale
I would have thought most hot water pipework would be out the way under sinks etc. Was this a case of the child being somewhere where they shouldn't have been or was it easily accessible to anyone. Not that this is a excuse just was it foreseeable that a child could come in contact with the pipe.
Rather than boxing in would using pipe insulation be easier to fit as it's easy to cut to any size it will cover the hot pipe as well as fill the gap around the pipe. It could easily be held in place with cable ties.
It would be a lot cheaper than boxing in pipes. and can easily be done by anybody.
Phil
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Jonathan Breeze
I can't speak for the school in question, but I recall my school having heating pipes of about 1 1/2 inch diameter all the way around the room above the skirting boards.
If these had been covered in foam, they wouldn't have lasted long and as 12 year olds we would certainly have used them to re-enact various Star Wars scenes.
..."You can't win, Darth. If you strike be down I shall become more powerful then you can possibly imagine."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Tabs
"It could easily be held in place with cable ties.
(snip) and can easily be done by anybody."
More importantly, it could be easily removed quickly to provide enough space to release the trapped arm.
But... is it a reasonable response? How many times have children caught their arms? How long have the pipes been in place?
Maybe just a ice-cold water and baby lotion procedure would be effective?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By peter gotch
Hi Steven
For other risks e.g. falls the standard is that you should not be able to get a 50mm dia sphere through. [It's written into one of the Approved Docs that support the Building Regs in England]
Regards, Peter
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Della Pearlman
There is another point here about the temperature of radiators.
The current The Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999, say “In a special school, nursery school or teaching accommodation used by a nursery class in a school the surface temperature of any radiator, including exposed pipework, which is in a position where it may be touched by a pupil shall not exceed 43°C.”
You can buy radiator guards, which eliminate any gaps behind the radiators, and protect against touching a hot radiator. If you are starting from scratch, you can buy low temperature surface radiators.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Fred Pratley
Not my area of expertise and I suspect you have already asked, but how hot is the pipe and how hot does it need to be?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By PeterL
Hi Steven,
Dealt with a similar case in a previous incarnation and took the decision to box the pipes in, to avoid re-occurrence. The circulation hot water temperature should be regulated and another consideration should be was the supervision levels sufficient?
Cheers Pete,
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Della Pearlman
I work with architects who design schools, and asked them about this. Their response was that in Primary and Special Schools, Low Surface Temperature radiators are installed and all pipework (both vertical and horizontal) is boxed in. In Secondary Schools, standard radiators are usually installed, but the pipework is again boxed in. This is apparently the industry standard.
Della
|
|
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum.
You cannot reply to topics in this forum.
You cannot delete your posts in this forum.
You cannot edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You cannot vote in polls in this forum.