The report said that cost saving measures had resulted in badly designed labs that endangered children.

It noted that in many labs, workbenches had been built along walls rather than in the centre of the classroom. This meant strong sunlight would prevent pupils from being able to see whether or not their Bunsen burners were lit.

The report prompted the Education Institute of Scotland, the country’s largest teaching union, to call for urgent action before a child was seriously hurt.

However, education bosses in Dundee say schools built under PPP, like the new secondary St Paul’s or the refurbished and the new Grove Academy building, will not suffer from the same pitfalls.

“The science laboratories in the new PPP secondary schools will be state-of-the-art facilities which have been designed with safety as the number one priority,” said an education spokesman.

“There has been consultation with science teachers about the design and layout of the laboratories.”