Nursery in Edinburgh Fined £800K Over Fatal Choking Incident 

The recent prosecution of a nursery in Scotland has highlighted the need to ensure break and play times are fully supervised, not just in terms of numbers but also in the clear deployment of staff to directly oversee certain activities.

It is easy for staff to view break times as times to relax and recuperate a little; however, these periods may well be when pupils are involved in higher risk activities, such as using play equipment, playing in areas that are less closely supervised and, in the case below, even when younger children are eating.

An Edinburgh nursery that failed to provide its employees with suitable instruction and supervision has been fined £800,000 after a 10-month-old boy in its care died after a choking incident.

The private nursery in Edinburgh pleaded guilty under section 76 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 and has no previous convictions. 

Police Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council’s joint investigation found that the child, who was not adequately supervised at the time, had been eating a pudding of raspberries and mango on the afternoon of 9 July 2019 when he choked on a piece of fruit in the eating area of the Under Two Room.

At the time, there were six members of staff in various areas of the room but they were involved with other tasks and were not supervising the children eating. A nursery nurse who had been sitting between Goulding and another child had gone to the toilet, and when she returned less than three minutes later, she saw the boy hunched forward in his seat and thought he was sleeping. 

As soon as the staff realised he wasn’t breathing, a nursery nurse gave him repeated back slaps while holding the boy almost upside down in an attempt to dislodge the food blocking his airway. 

The nursery manager was informed and immediately shouted for someone to call an ambulance. While waiting for the emergency services to arrive, a nursery nurse and the nursery manager performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). On their arrival, paramedics were able to remove the piece of fruit causing the obstruction and took Goulding to the city’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children, however, the boy was in cardiac arrest and unresponsive during the journey. He died the next day in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

Upon investigation, Police Scotland found that a member of staff did not always sit at the table during mealtimes contrary to their internal policies. They also found that supervision generally lessened as the mealtime progressed, particularly at breakfast and tea as staff could distracted by parents entering the room or because of cleaning duties. 

'More effective instruction and supervision could have been provided to the nursery’s childcare staff responsible for the safety of children dining in the room'

The investigators concluded that, ‘these failures increased the likelihood of a child choking during mealtimes and increased the likelihood that a child that did choke on food would not receive first aid intervention at the earliest opportunity therefore increasing the possibility of severe injury or death due to choking’. 

In addition, the investigators noted that there were a number of opportunities for the nursery to ensure that supervision of children dining in the Under Two Room was adequately managed. Also, more effective instruction and supervision could have been provided to the nursery’s childcare staff responsible for the safety of children dining in the room. 

“If he had choked on the mango while being adequately supervised the choking is more likely to have been discovered at the time or closer to the time it occurred providing greater opportunity for a successful outcome from interventions.”

Although the investigators determined that there had been more than the necessary number of staff present for the number of children, they concluded that they had not been suitably deployed while the children were eating.