First Crown Censure for English Heritage for safety failings

摘要

English Heritage has accepted a Crown Censure, equivalent to a criminal prosecution, for safety failings after a 12-year-old boy was badly cut when a glass floor panel broke during a family visit to Yarmouth castle on the Isle of Wight. This is the first censure recorded against English Heritage since its inception 30 years ago. On 5 September 2011, the boy was with his brother and two friends in the 17th century exhibition room when he jumped on a glass viewing panel set into the floor, designed to show stonework beneath. The panel, which had been in place for many years and walked on by thousands of people over that time, splintered into shards and the boy suffered severe lacerations to his left leg from the jagged glass. He needed surgery twice, but is now recovered, and back at school.