Boarding school fined £ 50,0000 after pupils overexposed to radon radioactive gas
20th July
2023
A private boarding school has been fined £ 50,000 after exposing two employees , five pupils , and two other children to high levels of radioactive radon gas . Five pupils at Kingswood School in Bath , Somerset were exposed to levels of radioactive radon gas almost 8 times the legal limit . Two other children , who were not pupils at the school , were exposed to levels of radon gas almost
14 times the legal limit . Two employees were exposed to radioactive radon gas
¾ of the legal limit . Exposures to radiation need to be kept as low as reasonably practicable .
The radioactive gas radon is a hazard in many homes and workplaces and breathing in radon is the second largest cause of lung cancer in the UK resulting in over 1,000 fatal cancers per year . Radon is a colourless , odourless , radioactive gas that occurs in rocks and soilss , some building materials and water . The ground is the most important source as radon can seep out and build up in houses and indoor workplaces like schools .
The legal limits for radiation exposure in the workplace are defined in The
Ionising
Radiations Regulations 2017 ( IRR17 ). These exposures to radioactive radon gas occurred in 2019 . The two employees and their two children were exposed to the elevated radon gas levels as a result of working and living at the school . The five overexposed pupils studied and lived at the school during this time .
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executivee ( HSE ) found that the school knew they had a radon problem as far back as 2007 when they carried out monitoring and installed some remediation to reduce radon levels . However , from 2010 to 2018 the school carried out no subsequent radon monitoring and had no systems in place to ensure radon control measures were adequate . Only following HSE intervention in 2018 did the school find out about their previous radon problem and further radon monitoring and remediation was carried out to reduce radon levels .
Kingswood School Trustees Limited , of Lansdown , Bath , Somerset pleadedd guilty to breaching Section 2 ( 1 ) and 3( 1 ) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 . The company was fined
£ 50,000 and was ordered to pay £ 19,222 costs at a hearing at Tauntonn Magistrates ’ Court on
19 July 2023 .
After the hearing , HSE Principal Specialist
Inspector ( Radiation ) Stewart Robertson , said :
“ The fine imposed on Kingswood School Trustees Limited should underlinee to everyone