Boy, 9, died after changing room locker fell on him, inquest hears

‘This tragedy should never have happened’ say parents

Friday 16 October 2020 11:25 EDT

Leo Latifi, 9, from Essex, died when a locker fell on top of him, an inquest has heard. (Press Association)

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A nine-year-old boy was killed when a locker unit that wasn’t secured to the wall fell over as he climbed on top of it, an inquest heard.

Leo Latifi, was putting his hand on the top of the 1.8-metre tall locker unit when it toppled over in a changing room at Great Baddow High School in Chelmsford, Essex, a friend who was with him said.

The four-day inquest concluded that Leo's death was an accident, and the jury found that it was "significantly contributed to by a lack of assessment of a clear and obvious risk due to a locker unit not being re-secured to a solid wall".

It said this was the case for some six years, since the locker unit was moved when new flooring was installed in 2013-14.

Leo's parents wiped tears from their eyes as Essex's senior coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray told them they had "shown the utmost dignity" during the hearing.

Leo's friend, who was stood lower down on the locker unit as it began to tip over, said he moved to the side when he felt it start to shift. He said Leo hit his head on a bench, then parents who had been poolside at the after-school swimming club came charging in.

The two boys were the only ones in the changing room when the locker fell over. Leo was taken to hospital where he died of a severe head injury on May 23 last year.

Michael Goodwin, a mechanical engineering expert instructed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), told the inquest in Chelmsford that the locker unit was not "correctly configured".

Ms Beasley-Murray, summing up Mr Goodwin's evidence, said Mr Goodwin believed there was an "obvious risk that the unit would fall over". "In my opinion the locker unit wasn't correctly configured in so much as it wasn't secured to the wall using fixing lugs provided by the manufacturer," she said, summarising his evidence.

Tipping tests were carried out on the locker unit at an HSE lab. "Had the locker been securely fixed to the wall, it's highly unlikely it would have tipped forward when the boys climbed up the front."

Mr Goodwin thought it "highly likely" that the lockers were fixed by screws when they were first installed in 2005-6. He believed that the lockers were moved when new flooring was installed in 2013-14.

Paul Draper, the school's business manager, told the inquest that the lockers "had been assessed as stable, secure and fit for purpose". He said they were checked during an audit in 2017, adding: "I tried to move it. "I'm 17 stone. I couldn't move it." He said he did not check for fixings to the wall.

Mr Goodwin described Mr Draper's method of checking as "insufficient". Leo's parents Eddie and Natalie Latifi, speaking after the hearing, said the tragedy "should never have happened".

In a statement issued through their lawyers, they said: "Losing Leo has caused us the worst pain imaginable.

"We are now clear this tragedy should never have happened. "We put our trust in the school who provided the premises for the swimming lessons, and we expected those premises to be safe. "The significant risk posed by a large locker unit being unsecured to the wall should have been clear to those in positions of responsibility at the school.

"However, it seems that over many years, there was no adequate system of inspection or risk assessment at the school, and as a result, the obvious risk that this unit posed was never identified.

"All we can hope is that Leo's death means that similar incidents will not be allowed to happen, so that no other family will have to experience our suffering, which will remain for the rest of our lives."

Mark Watson, representing the school, told the inquest: "The school's done everything to put matters right." He said the lockers have since been removed.