Health and safety rules stop school hatching out chicks in classroom

A primary school abandoned plans to hatch chicks in a classroom incubator because of ‘ludicrous’ health and safety rules.

Teacher Jean Williams wanted seven-year-olds to see how the birds developed from six eggs.

But council health and safety officers insisted biological, electrical, child and teacher risk-assessments would first have to be carried out.

Kevin Bullock, head of Fordham school, near Ely, Cambridgeshire was told he would have to guarantee the eggs were salmonella-free.

County council officers also demanded to know if children would be touching the eggs, due to the risk of infection, if the incubator had a current safety certificate and what the ‘protocol’ was for school holidays and weekends.

The final question seemed to miss the whole point. It asked: ‘Do you intend to keep the incubator in school until the eggs are hatched?’ Mr Bullock said: ‘It is one example of the ludicrous health and safety issues schools have to deal with.’