Museum fined after girl, five, maimed by rotating blades

The five-year-old needed three operations to save the fingers on her left hand after it was hit by fan blades spinning at 2,250 revolutions per minute and she was left permanently disfigured following the accident at The Discovery Museum in Newcastle.

Museum bosses admitted a charge under Section 3(i) of the Health and Safety at Work Act at Newcastle Magistrates' Court.

Prosecutor Carol Forster described how one of the museum's exhibits was in the middle of being repaired when the accident happened on August 17 last year.

Called Floating On Air, the gravity-defying exhibit was part of the museum's Science Maze, designed to educate children in the basic principles of physics.

Powered by three high-speed fans channelling air through three hoses, it demonstrated how mass and air pressure worked by appearing to float a ping pong ball in mid air.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was on a day trip to the museum with her sister and grandmother when she inserted her hand into the gap left by one of the hoses, which had been removed earlier that day for repairs.

Her fingers hit the revolving blades and she endured three major operations to repair the damage, including a skin and tendon graft, although her fingers remain bent and scarred.

The accident could easily have been prevented had a safety grate been fixed over the hole, Mrs Forster said.

Mitigating, Rod Searl said the Newcastle Council-run museum, which must pay 7,333 costs, was profoundly sorry for what happened, and had spent 130,000 reviewing health and safety procedures since.