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Hazel Kent and her son Oli
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Mum claims health and safety gone mad as son is banned from filling soup with hot water

By Becky Barnes
March 20, 2013

A mum claimed health and safety had ‘gone mad’ after her special needs son was told school cooks could not fill his instant soup with hot water.

Hazel Kent was shocked when Oliver, 19, returned from school saying kitchen staff told him they could no longer give him boiling water.

The 43-year-old, who runs Bracknell Market cafe, said she was told the action was taken after a health and safety inspection.

Hazel, from Great Hollands, said: “Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?

“What has this world come to when a cook can’t even make up an instant soup?

“Oli told me they have to make his soup upstairs. It is just unbelievable.”

The teenager, who has a learning disability, started taking soup sachets to Addington School in Woodley in a bid to lose weight.

Hazel said: “I am not blaming the school and at least the teachers are helping. But it seems health and safety has gone mad.”

A Wokingham Borough Council spokeswoman said concerns were raised after the council’s school meals team performed an audit on its meal’s contractor Caterlink on February 12.

She said: “There was a potential health and safety risk because the student was going to the kitchen and getting hot water and then getting his soup sachet and putting it in.

“Once the school realised this risk they made alternative arrangements – he is not being inconvenienced in any way.

“This is not a policy across schools in Wokingham – it was a potential risk because Addington is a special school so there are more potential hazards.”

Hazel added she was not told Oliver was pouring the water himself. She said: “They told me the kitchen staff weren’t allowed to do it which is why it seemed so stupid.”

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For a while restaurants were refusing to microwave heat baby milk for 30 seconds. Best you could get is boiling water in a bowl bathe the milk bottle in until the baby so tired of screaming for food would fall asleep for 20 mins and wake up to scream more about the still cold milk.

All because one day an idiot did and will again take scolding hot milk, not shake it, not check it and give it to their baby and because lawyers are all to happy to help them pass on the blame.

Thankfully I've since seen parents being served by people with common sense.

Kaz4Wokingham, Wokingham
26/03/2013 at 16:41

The school has a kitchen for FE so the pupils can do cooking, ironing and bed making I believe. The school is not saying they don’t want hot water brought into the school. Not sure where you got that from. We are not talking about Oliver taking in his own hot food; it’s a simple packet with some powder in it which he now opens, tips into his flask, shakes and drinks. He is on a strict calorie controlled diet and this is part of his lunch (along with a yogurt). Nothing more, nothing less. I think you have got the totally wrong end of the stick, or I do not understand what you are trying to get at. It is probably me being thick yet again. Thankfully, Oliver is 19 and will be off to college come September and therefore, nobody will have to worry about it any further.

HK, bracknell
20/03/2013 at 16:24

Unfortunate that students need to take hot water into school. Again, if this was my Kitchen, I would feel justified in preventing any externally-sourced footstuffs from entering my Kitchen. Call it H&S, or the hastle of having to manage this extra operation. Iis there more to the reason why the school does not want hot water brought into school so that students can prepare their own meal? Does the school provide suitable facilities for the preparation of bring-your-own hot food, such as a pupil kitchen. Who keeps this area clean? Is there a cost justification for these restrictions? What are the 'alternative arrangements'?

Beef Cake Argh!
20/03/2013 at 14:47

Beef, the email which was sent to me from the school stated that the kitchen staff were not allowed to put the water on the soup or the kitchen could be closed down. I asked for clarification on this and was then told the teacher was doing it for him instead. I now send him in with a flask of hot water so he can add the packet of powder himself to save anyone the distress of having to make it for him. My gripe was that it seemed absolutely ridiculous that kitchen staff were not allowed to do such a menial task. This has now been turned round and we are being told that Oliver is not allowed to put the water on himself. This is where the problem has come from. Fair point about letting him into the kitchen but this was not what I was originally told. If the teachers don’t know what’s going on then what hope is there. I feel sorry for the teachers as they are obviously being told one thing and then something different and all because the “threat” of the “elf” who might get the school into trouble. As Tonk pointed out, the state has become a Nanny Nation and this is generally because of the “sue” everyone attitude. We only have ourselves to blame when kids leave school and can’t even wipe their own backsides let alone have a grain of common sense.

HK, bracknell
20/03/2013 at 14:31

We've only half the picture here. For example... if you run a school kitchen, do you let anyone (let alone children) walk in? No. End of.

Beef Cake Argh!
20/03/2013 at 13:48

I come at this from a slightly different perspective.

H&S gets a bad press and tends to switch people off from pertinent, relevant advice.

It is precisely the jobsworth culture that Tonk highlights that is the real culprit - and by extension the idiots who incorrectly apply what are common sense guidelines.

It's the application of H&S by humans that is the problem - not H&S itself.

It's like the demonsiation of the EU - the institution and it's many positives are of undoubted benefit to us, but put a politician in there and it's a recipe for an almighty b*ll-ache (quite aside from the hypocrisy of the likes of UKIP and rightwing Tory MEP's who make a tidy living from it).

But we digress...

Winstanley, Bracknell
20/03/2013 at 12:42

It is sad that we have become such a nation of helpless babies, that we need Nanny(the state) to decide and do everything for us; from wiping our backsides for us, through to deciding whether or not a MAN of nineteen can safely use a bit of hot water......This shows just what a risk averse, pathetic society the 'elf'n'safety brigade has made us.....Much of it is of our own making for letting these jobsworths boss us about and convince us that we are not capable of deciding things for ourselves or our children.....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr That bloody Elf!

Tonk, Wokingham
20/03/2013 at 11:45

Have you ever tried cuppa soup that's been left for a few hours? It turns to water!

HK, bracknell
20/03/2013 at 11:18

Non Story Why not make the soup at home then put it in the thermos jug that is so prominently displayed in the photo?

William Richards
20/03/2013 at 10:21

Perhaps it is but when the kid is 19 and the school teach him how to use an iron, it seems absolutely beyond belief. Common sense should prevail and if a kid is encouraged to iron and cook then to not allow hot water is a little hypercritical. Some of the kids aren’t able or capable of using such items but surely, the school should be able to distinguish between their pupils and use a little savvy. If it is down to the council then perhaps it should be them who teach these kids self sufficiency or would they prefer them to leave school without such simple skills? I feel for the school as they are torn between helping the kids and red tape. The story is to highlight how the “elf” sticks their noses into things without looking at individual cases.