De La Warr door device falls on baby's head

A full health and safety probe is underway.

Crowds of visitors were in the building when the accident happened just before 4pm on Saturday.

A woman carrying a little girl of about four months opened the door to leave the rooftop terrace.

As she did so, the fitting of the door's self-return device was prised off and fell on to the child.

The alarm was raised and by the time an ambulance arrived, the little girl had a lump the size of an egg on her head.

Observer production editor Philip Elms saw the accident. He said: "I picked up the fallen device and would say it weighed six or seven pounds.

"It had been attached to a metal plate by four flimsy screws.

"When that door is fully opened the extending arm of the return device strikes the metal plate and puts pressure on those four tiny screws.

"It was clearly an accident waiting to happen.

"I imagine the health and safety people will have a field day with this because other doors at the Pavilion have similar design flaws."

In a statement this week, Pavilion head of communications Sally-Ann Lycett said: "Yes, there was an accident at the weekend involving a metal mechanism falling on a small child.

"The safety of the work that has been done is the reponsibility of the building contractors and so subject to the industry's normal health and safety procedures.

"We have instructed the contractors to initiate a full investigation as to what caused the accident and to implement a rigorous check of all doors and adjoining mechanisms immediately.

"We have been in touch with the family concerned since the incident and are delighted to say that, to the best of our knowledge, the child is fine."