16-year-old girl loses 8 fingers during art lesson.

(Warning - yicky photos)

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A school was ordered to pay nearly £20,000 in fines and legal costs today after a pupil lost all but two of her fingers in an art lesson.

Okay, that's pretty bad...

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The penalty was increased on the Giles foundation school in Boston, Lincolnshire, because staff failed to report the "catastrophic" incident, involving plaster of paris, to the Health and Safety Executive.

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Boston magistrates heard the schoolgirl, whose identity has not been revealed, was one of a group on a BTec course who were making sculptures of their hands.

Oh, that poor girl...

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They had been told to work clay round their fingers to make a mould, which they were then to fill with liquid plaster of paris mixed with water in a bucket.

Wait...

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Instead, the girl – referred to as Student X – plunged her hands into the bucket up to the wrist and kept them there as the plaster set. The court heard chemical reactions in the process could reach 60C in large quantities of the plaster, and the student suffered "terrible burns".

:/:

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plunged her hands into the bucket up to the wrist and kept them there as the plaster set.

Now she has eight reasons to pay the fuck attention to her teacher.

Honestly, it was her own damn fault.

*whimper* You dumb brat, what were you thinking?!

I have this horrible urge to cover my hands with a blanket to protect them from harm...

Dumbass.

Considering the article said another student made a similar mistake before, yeah, the girl was a dumbass but I'd be looking at the art teacher as well. If you have two students making the same potentially injurious mistake in a short span of time, you might want to rethink your instructions or the project itself.

Also, what the hell was the school thinking, trying to keep this incident from officials? That just makes it worse when they catch up to you.

How hard would it have been for the school to buy plastic gloves? I mean really, if you're having people stick their hands into stuff that could burn off their fucking fingers wouldn't you think about gloves?

bleachedblackcat wrote:

How hard would it have been for the school to buy plastic gloves? I mean really, if you're having people stick their hands into stuff that could burn off their fucking fingers wouldn't you think about gloves?

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They had been told to work clay round their fingers to make a mould, which they were then to fill with liquid plaster of paris mixed with water in a bucket.

huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrr

bleachedblackcat wrote:

How hard would it have been for the school to buy plastic gloves? I mean really, if you're having people stick their hands into stuff that could burn off their fucking fingers wouldn't you think about gloves?

We did a similar project in high school art class, something- anything to protect the skin would have worked. We taped plastic wrap to our faces and took molds of them. So while I think the kids are stupid, it's the teacher's responsibility to inform them of the risks. Like in woodshop class, it's important to drill the students on safety protocol. Art classes are no different because not only do they incorporate power tools, but there are other material-specific rules to follow: work in a well-ventilated area, wear gloves, don't put brush handles in your mouth, etc. Students may not know the risks if the teacher doesn't inform them. It will eliminate most of the screw-ups if a teacher did.

But then, if they were anything like the giggling group of girls from woodshop class, they probably didn't pay attention. And if the teacher was talking about safety protocol and provided plastic wrap, but the kids ignored the advice for whatever reason, they have no one to blame but themselves for their mistake.

I think that the teacher should have at least told the kids, "Hey, you leave your hands in this shit, you'll get burned... horribly. You may even lose some digits." And yes, like Nihilist said, she may have told them there were health hazards, but, y'know, put it bluntly and all that.

We worked with knives and big-ass cutting machines and hot presses to do mounting and paper-drying when I was in Graphic Design, all of which could have hurt us, and my teacher warned us of potential dangers and included some past stories of students injuring themselves -- mainly sliced fingers, though she did tell one story of a girl who accidentally stabbed herself in the arm and bled out a huge amount before she got to the hospital (my teacher had to drive her, since the girl initially refused treatment at school).

Fortunately I managed to survive the curriculum with nothing worse than a staple going into my finger once when I was putting together a booklet. (I just pulled the staple out in a second and stuck it where it belonged, in my book.) I got worse injuries to my hands doing my own hobbies.

Maybe it was idiotic, but poor kid. Loosing eight fingers seems a harsh punishment.

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The class had failed to observe guidelines on plaster of paris, which state clearly that it should only be handled using goggles and gloves.

Apparently the teacher failed to do his/her job properly too, if no one was wearing gloves.

Mafiosa wrote:

bleachedblackcat wrote:

How hard would it have been for the school to buy plastic gloves? I mean really, if you're having people stick their hands into stuff that could burn off their fucking fingers wouldn't you think about gloves?

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They had been told to work clay round their fingers to make a mould, which they were then to fill with liquid plaster of paris mixed with water in a bucket.

huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrr

It's easier to figure out if someone has gloves on. Also, the clay could have not been as effective as gloves would have been and kids could have still burned themselves. Sorry for not making it clear when I first typed.

bleachedblackcat wrote:

Mafiosa wrote:

bleachedblackcat wrote:

How hard would it have been for the school to buy plastic gloves? I mean really, if you're having people stick their hands into stuff that could burn off their fucking fingers wouldn't you think about gloves?

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They had been told to work clay round their fingers to make a mould, which they were then to fill with liquid plaster of paris mixed with water in a bucket.

huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrr

It's easier to figure out if someone has gloves on. Also, the clay could have not been as effective as gloves would have been and kids could have still burned themselves. Sorry for not making it clear when I first typed.

Oh for the love of god they were never supposed to stick their fingers in the plaster at all the clay would have been a mold to pour the plaster into WHY IS READING SO HARD FOR YOU.

Ugh, I just re-read the OP, and... I'm just gonna echo other people's sentiments and say, man, was this kid ever dumb.

Unfortunately it's the sort of dumb that ended up costing her 8 fingers and most of the function of her hands.

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Mafiosa wrote:

bleachedblackcat wrote:

Mafiosa wrote:

bleachedblackcat wrote:

How hard would it have been for the school to buy plastic gloves? I mean really, if you're having people stick their hands into stuff that could burn off their fucking fingers wouldn't you think about gloves?

Quote :

They had been told to work clay round their fingers to make a mould, which they were then to fill with liquid plaster of paris mixed with water in a bucket.

huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrr

It's easier to figure out if someone has gloves on. Also, the clay could have not been as effective as gloves would have been and kids could have still burned themselves. Sorry for not making it clear when I first typed.

Oh for the love of god they were never supposed to stick their fingers in the plaster at all the clay would have been a mold to pour the plaster into WHY IS READING SO HARD FOR YOU.

Heh, sorry my brain died a couple weeks back.

At least next year the teacher will have a damn good story to get the kids to listen to instructions.

Actually, they probably still won't listen. "If you don't listen to me, you'll lose eight fingers" doesn't sound very plausible.

ZoZo wrote:

At least next year the teacher will have a damn good story to get the kids to listen to instructions.

Actually, they probably still won't listen. "If you don't listen to me, you'll lose eight fingers" doesn't sound very plausible.

She could bring the former student in and show them.

Lady Anne wrote:

ZoZo wrote:

At least next year the teacher will have a damn good story to get the kids to listen to instructions.

Actually, they probably still won't listen. "If you don't listen to me, you'll lose eight fingers" doesn't sound very plausible.

She could bring the former student in and show them.

Or keep the news articles and make them a handout that she gives to her students. With pictures. Gruesome ones.

oh God oh God oh God that would be a TERRIBLE way to lose your fingers D: I've been down the plaster burn road, and it ain't pretty.

However, because I have, I'd like to provide some perspective. I was in a Sculpture class, which involves getting plaster pretty dang' near everywhere--you have to bodily flick plaster onto your sculpture instead of pouring it because pouring would cause air bubbles, so there's basically a permanent ten-foot radius of plaster splatter in every direction in the Sculpture room. Yes, even the ceiling. Point is, I was absolutely covered in plaster by the time I was done, including solid casts on both of my arms. And, when I peeled those casts off, I was shocked to discover that the skin underneath was bright red and sore, because no one told me plaster burned. I was never instructed to wear gloves, told not to care if I got it on me, and, most importantly, was never told that plaster was at all a volatile substance. I assumed it was harmless because no one bothered to tell me otherwise.

While it mentions that the court heard that plaster was dangerous, it's entirely possible that the girl didn't. While not following instructions was a bad idea, it's not nearly the same as not following instructions when using a band saw or a pneumatic hammer, because those are things you know can hurt you. The poor silly bint probably just thought she was being creative with a seemingly harmless substance and didn't know better until it was too late. Honestly, if no one noticed/cared that she was doing it before it went critical, I can't see any other alternative. It's not like it's a fucking magnesium fuse, it takes time to get hot.

I wonder if her teacher was as stoned as mine was...

What kind of art classes were y'all in? I remember being told very specifically that the plaster could cause me a hell of a lot of harm and not to touch it with my bare skin, ever. We were instructed to wear full-cover clothes to class that day, with smocks and gloves handed out in class.

What kind of idiot doesn't explain to students that plaster burns?

Someone trying to get his students maimed?

TBH, even if she didn't know that plaster burned... what did she think was going to happen after it had set around her hands?
That's what really got me...

:/:

Seule wrote:

TBH, even if she didn't know that plaster burned... what did she think was going to happen after it had set around her hands?
That's what really got me...

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Probably that she could slide them off like gloves?

At first I read the responses thinking this was an 8-year-old girl, and was thinking Jesus Christ, this is harsh even for us. But yeah, a 16-year-old should have known better. Or if she was confused, watch the other students. Regardless, if no one noticed until after the fact, it reflects poorly on the teacher's powers of observation.

And I'm glad I never worked with plaster.

Lapin wrote:

What kind of idiot doesn't explain to students that plaster burns?

Hey, my teacher was no idiot. He was just really, really stoned. A lot. I mean seriously the going joke among the faculty was the more messed up his hair was the more videos you'd watch in class.

yaaaaaay Northern Michigan community colleges \(^o^)/

Actually, thinking hard about it, he may have mentioned in passing that it got hot, but yeah, no gloves, no smock, just a loose apron to cover my clothes (did NOTHING) and the suggestion to have fun. Maybe regular plaster is less volatile than Plaster of Paris?

VB wrote:

Seule wrote:

TBH, even if she didn't know that plaster burned... what did she think was going to happen after it had set around her hands?
That's what really got me...

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VB getting the numbers confused

Actually, this article would have been far more interesting if an 8 year old lost 16 fingers.