An 8ft mirror that toppled on to a five-year-old boy in a department store was “unsecured”, an inquest into his death has heard.
Freddie Farrow appeared to use very little force when he touched the mirror and it fell on him at the Fenwick store in Colchester, Essex, a detective told jurors.
It happened on July 27 2021 and Freddie died in hospital in Cambridge on August 2 2021 having sustained a traumatic brain injury.
Investigator David King, of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said: “Freddie was fatally injured when an unsecured mirror, 2.6 metres high (8ft 6in) and weighing approximately 80kg (176lb), toppled and fell on him.”
He told the hearing in Chelmsford that the mirror was “designed to be at three degrees, so virtually upright”.
Mr King said the mirrors were manufactured in Germany and installed in 2016 as part of a wider refurbishment.
“From my understanding from the drawings, the weight (of the mirrors) would be taken by the ground and not the wall,” he said.
He said two fixing boxes, made of MDF (medium-density fibreboard), were on the back of each mirror and there were also metal brackets.
“The purpose wasn’t to hang the mirror, it’s to restrain it into the pillar,” said Mr King.
He said the MDF boxes were held together with PVA, a wood glue.
Mr King said other mirrors at the store were looked at after the incident by investigators from Colchester City Council.
He said two of 14 mirrors were found to be suspended, instead of resting on the floor, and nine had some form of distortion to their top fixing boxes.
Mr King said two mirrors were found to be “partially resting” on the floor, and two had additional screws in the MDF fixing boxes.
Keith Morton, the barrister representing Fenwick, suggested to Mr King that the incident mirror “would be raised above the floor by 15mm” if the top fixing had been used, based on the location of the upper wall bracket.
Mr King agreed that the mirror would be raised above the floor by 15mm.
Mr Morton said: “When this mirror was installed it was wrongly installed, wasn’t it.”
Mr King replied: “That appears to be the case, yes.”
He also agreed that the “installation wasn’t safe”.
In a series of questions, Mr Morton suggested that the only thing fixing the mirror to the wall had been the top wall bracket that “wasn’t designed to be load bearing”.
He also said it “depended for its limited strength on wood glue” on the MDF fixing box, and Mr King said “that appears to be the case”.
The inquest, being heard before a jury, continues.