Boy, 9, Killed by Falling Locker in Essex High School

A view of the entrance gate to Great Baddow High School in Chelmsford, UK. (Google Maps)

A 9-year-old boy died in a school in Britain after a locker fell over and pinned him, The Mirror reported.

The child was at an after-school club at a local high school when tragedy struck.

A spokesperson for Essex Police was cited by The Mirror as saying: “We were called by the ambulance service at about 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, May 23, to reports a child had been injured at Great Baddow High School in Duffield Road, Chelmsford.

“The nine-year-old boy was believed to have fallen from a locker and become trapped underneath it.”

The spokesperson said the child was not a student at the school. The Mirror reported the boy was there with his family attending a swimming club.

Witnesses told Essex Live that at around 6:30 p.m., numerous emergency crews responded to the scene and an air ambulance landed on the school’s parking lot.

The Essex Police spokesman told The Mirror: “He was taken to hospital, where he sadly died.”

The police said they would be liaising with health and safety authorities in relation to the tragedy.

Great Baddow High School announced on its website that except for students taking exams, the facility would be closed Friday “due to exceptional circumstances.”

Aerial view of Great Baddow High School in Chelmsford, UK. (Google Maps)

About 1,400 students are on the school roll.

A safety report (pdf) issued by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) for 2017 gave the school a rating of “good.”

“Safeguarding is effective,” wrote Inspector John Daniell.

“Safeguarding children is at the heart of what the school stands for. All staff have received and read the latest guidance, ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (2016), and demonstrated a strong awareness of safeguarding issues. All staff have also undergone training in the government’s ‘Prevent’ duty. Staff, including those who join the school mid-year, receive up-to-date training on safeguarding matters. The school’s record of recruitment checks of the suitability of staff is compliant.

Great Baddow High School Ofsted report, 2017. (Ofsted)

“Pupils feel safe and receive guidance about issues related to safeguarding through regular visitors to the school and also in lessons. The inspectors’ review of a case study relating to a particularly vulnerable child shows that the school’s leaders go above and beyond what is expected of them to ensure each child’s safety.

“A relatively large team of staff have key responsibilities for safeguarding but each knows their precise role and there is no confusion. Pupils who attend alternative provision are monitored rigorously and systems are in place to ensure their safety.”

Mortality Figures in the United States

According to 2017 data from the CDC, the 10 leading causes of death in the United States were: heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, Alzheimer disease, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia, kidney disease, and suicide.

Age-adjusted death rates for the 10 leading causes of death in the United States for the years 2016 and 2017. (CDC)

These further break down as follows: the most common are unintentional poisoning deaths (58,335), followed by motor vehicle traffic deaths (40,327), and unintentional fall deaths in third place (34,673).

The total number of emergency department visits for unintentional injuries in the United States in 2017 was 29.2 million, according to the CDC.

The 10 leading causes accounted for 74 percent of all deaths in the United States in 2017.

Americans More Likely to Die From Opioid Overdose Than a Car Crash

For the first time in history, accidental opioid overdose has surpassed motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of unintentional deaths, according to a new report by the National Safety Council (NSC).

Americans have a 1 in 96 chance of dying from an opioid overdose, while the probability of dying in a motor vehicle accident is 1 in 103. The council’s analysis is based on 2017 mortality data by the National Center for Health Statistics, which is part of the CDC.

“The nation’s opioid crisis is fueling the Council’s grim probabilities, and that crisis is worsening with an influx of illicit fentanyl,” the NSC said in a statement on Jan. 14.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than 130 people in the United States die of an opioid overdose each day, while the cost of prescription opioid misuse in the country is $78.5 billion a year. This includes the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement.

“We’ve made significant strides in overall longevity in the United States, but we are dying from things typically called accidents at rates we haven’t seen in half a century,” said Ken Kolosh, manager of statistics at the NSC.

“We cannot be complacent about 466 lives lost every day. This new analysis reinforces that we must consistently prioritize safety at work, at home, and on the road to prevent these dire outcomes,” he said.

Epoch Times reporter Janita Kan contributed to this article.