By AIDAN KNIGHT
A GIPPSLAND family is taking legal action against the state government, after their son was seriously injured after running straight through a glass window, at a Traralgon special development school.
The parents allege that the glass did not meet appropriate safety requirements, and left the young man with a multitude of physical lacerations, and adverse affects on his mental health.
The boy is Brodie Lothringer, who was aged 12 at the time of the 2019 incident. Brodie lives with autism, intellectual disability, ADHD and epilepsy. His parents are pursuing legal action after discovering the glass was not the regulation safety variety. Victorian guidelines require all school glazing to meet national safety standards, but go further in specialist settings, where glass in high-risk areas must be designed to withstand greater impact.
Under the Victorian School Building Authority standards and the National Construction Code, any glass within reach of students – particularly below one metre – must be Grade A safety glazing, with special education schools often required to exceed minimum requirements due to the higher risk of accidental or behavioural impact.
Upon impact, Brodie was cut on his head and arms, serious enough to warrant ambulance transport before undergoing “extensive suturing”.
Mentally he has suffered following the event, which forms a key argument of the legal proceedings, supported by medical reports detailing emotional and trauma responses to the young boy, manifesting in “severe avoidance behaviours” disrupting his school experience and forms of anxiety.
Arnold Thomas and Becker, who are representing the parents, told the Express the family has made “repeated requests to the school to obtain a report about what had occurred on the day of the incident”.
Principal of the firm, Joseph Ridley said “This was a foreseeable risk in a setting where student behaviours and vulnerabilities were well understood.”
The school upgraded its facility to be fitted with safety glass following the incident, (following a WorkSafe intervention) but has now closed its doors as an educational institution.
“We trusted the school to keep our son safe, and that trust was broken,” the family said.
“The impact went far far beyond the physical injuries. It changed how he felt about school completely.
“He’s struggled with anxiety and distress ever since, we do not want another family to go through what we have experienced.”
The matter is listed for trial in the County Court of Victoria on May 17, 2026, with mediation expected to take place prior.
As the case heads toward court, it raises broader questions about whether safety standards in specialist schools are being consistently enforced – and whether similar risks may still exist in classrooms across the state.
