Three 'near misses' at Edinburgh school

Three near misses from falling building materials have been recorded this year at an Edinburgh school where a pupil was killed by a collapsing wall.

The incidents at Liberton High School were among 20 similar events which happened at schools across the capital over the last two years.

It comes four years after Keane Wallis-Bennett, 12, died after a wall fell on her in changing rooms at Liberton.

The City of Edinburgh Council said "safety was an absolute priority".

A spokesman for the local authority said it took all the incidents "extremely seriously" and they were fully investigated.

• 'Inherently unstable' wall killed pupil

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Data published on the council's website reveals that the latest incident at Liberton happened on 16 August this year.

A piece of plaster fell from an area above a doorway and "hit a teacher on the head" but they were not injured.

Two separate incidents involving ceiling tiles took place at Liberton on 17 April this year - one fell very close to a 12-year-old pupil while another narrowly missed a teacher.

Keane Wallis-Bennett was fatally injured when a changing room wall collapsed on her

Contractors performing heating upgrades at the school during the Easter holiday were blamed for slack workmanship and were suspended.

Liberton councillor Lezley Marion Cameron said ward councillors and the parent council had not been informed about the incident in August.

"Elected members are not being kept as fully informed as possible and that's just not satisfactory," she said.

"Parents have to be assured that when pupils are coming to learn, they are coming to learn in a safe and modern environment."

'Showing deterioration'

Last year, Liberton High School was judged to be in a "satisfactory" condition, meaning the building was "performing adequately but showing minor deterioration".

The satisfactory rating meant the school missed out on a guaranteed reconstruction in favour of Currie High, Castlebrae High and Trinity Academy.

In total, there have been 28 incidents at schools across the capital involving falling building materials or other items, such as - in one instance - a falling whiteboard.

Ten of the incidents resulted in injuries to either pupils or staff, three caused damage to property and equipment, while 15 were classed as "near misses".

They include:

• A teacher was injured when part of a door fell on them at Dean Park Primary School in June 2017;

• At Castlebrae High School, a ceiling tile fell and "just missed a member of staff" on 18 September 2018;

• A pupil at Kirkliston Primary School was hurt when a whiteboard fell while children were playing near it on 30 January 2018;

• A child was hurt when they were hit by a ceiling tile which was dislodged in wind at Pirniehall Primary School in June 2018;

• When a gust of wind blew in a window at Clermiston Primary School in December 2017, a pupil was injured.

A council spokeswoman said: "Safety is an absolute priority for the council. We take all incidents extremely seriously and fully investigate any that have occurred in our schools.

"We are currently in the first year of delivering a planned £153m investment programme across the whole council estate, including schools, which will take five years to complete.

"This programme will ensure we achieve a safe, sustainable and planned preventative repair and maintenance regime for all our buildings for the future."

• Story by local democracy reporter David Bol