A TEACHER hurt herself after falling down a grate left open by builders at Coleg Gwent’s state of the art £33.5 million campus in its opening week.

The incident happened at Blaenau Gwent Learning Zone in Ebbw Vale a day before its grand opening at the beginning of this month.

The teacher fell through the unmarked grate which had been left open since the previous Friday.

The teacher’s foot dropped through the open grating causing her to fall and leaving her with a bruised leg.

The Health and Safety Executive said they are looking into the accident.

Construction in and around the building is ongoing, despite the thousands of students on A-level programmes and vocational courses who are at the site every day.

Rob Gilvear, director for marketing, communications and planning at Coleg Gwent, said: “A workman left the grille open on Friday and marked it with a cone.

On Monday the cone had gone, and the teacher put her foot in it and tripped.

She had some superficial bruising.”

Coleg Gwent and contractor Leadbitters said the accident was a minor one.

Wailim Wong from the Health and Safety Executive said: “We are making preliminary inquiries.

“The incident has been reported to the HSE, but we have not received anything from the college. An inspector will contact the college and the contractors to find out more.”

A spokeswoman from Coleg Gwent said a prompt and thorough investigation took place, and added: “As with all building projects of this scale, it is usual practice for contractors to remain on site for a period of time to deal with any issues that crop up when a building is occupied for the first time.”