B&Q fined £15K for safety breach

Child hurt by falling display
B&Q has been fined £15,000 after a four-year-old girl was injured at the Oldham Westhulme store.

The girl was in the store last June when she pulled down a bathroom display worktop that contained a ceramic sink.

The sink fell on top of her and she suffered cuts and bruises.

A visit by Oldham Council’s health-and-safety team concluded that though the sink had been sealed into the work top with silicone, the worktop hadn’t been fixed to the wall correctly, allowing the girl to pull it on top of her.

Following the incident, B&Q tightened procedures in a memo to all branches.

A visit to the store almost a year after the incident brought to light nine items not fitted correctly to the walls.

Jon Cooper, defending, said: “This was a failure at a local level. B&Q regrets the injuries suffered by the girl and we apologise to her. Customer safety is of paramount importance.”

District Judge James Prowse fined B&Q £15,000 and ordered the company to pay £5,497 in costs.