Pages On: School Accidents
Schools need to be safe places for children and adults alike. But accidents in schools are far more common than you might expect. A lot of press considers the pursuit against schools for injury compensation to be the scourge of “compensation culture”. However, schools have a duty of care to protect their pupils, and as such they are liable for injuries. Most claimants will sue a school if the injuries were serious and clearly not at fault for them. They are also workplaces, and have some of the highest rates of work accidents of all other sectors. As such, a teacher, or other staff, injured in a school could seek employer negligence compensation. If you’ve suffered an accident in a school, and you’re not at fault, you may be entitled to compensation.
Council paid out £101million to injured workers
Posted: 27 October 2014
Posted in: Finger Injuries, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents, Workplace Injuries
New figures have revealed that over the last five years, councils have paid out £101million to injured workers. With local authorities having paid out to 8,800 claimants, the injuries ranged from a teacher injuring herself from falling off a zip wire, to a cleaner splashing bleach in her eye. The campaign manager for the Taxpayers’ Alliance, Andy Silvester, said that some successful claims were evidence of “compensation culture gone mad”. While 372 councils awarded compensation to 8,800 claimants, thousands of other claims were rejected. Amongst those were two teachers from…
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Asbestos in Wales’ student bedrooms
Posted: 24 August 2014
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, School Accidents
Universities across Wales have confirmed that their halls of residence contain asbestos. It is believed that over 3,000 students in the last year slept in university bedrooms containing the material. Aberystwyth, Cardiff and the University of Wales Trinity St David all confirmed the presence of asbestos in their halls of residence. The British Lung Foundation described the universities as “reckless”. Asbestos was used as a building material for fireproofing and insulation between the 1950s and 1980s, before its potential health risk was identified. The Health and Safety Executive said that…
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Almost half a million to council staff
Posted: 28 May 2014
Posted in: Public Place Accidents, School Accidents, Shoulder Injuries, Workplace Injuries, Workplace Slip
In the last two years, just under half a million pounds of compensation has been paid out to East and West Sussex County Council staff. In 2012 and 2013, East and West Sussex County Councils paid-out £472,973 in compensation to injured employees. One payout of £23,000 by West Sussex County Council went to a teacher who slipped on a puddle in a school corridor, suffering serious ligament damage. A spokesperson from the WSCC said that the council did originally fight the claim, but the court ruled them responsible for the accident, and…
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Bolton Council sees biggest bill in Greater Manchester
Posted: 22 April 2014
Posted in: Public Place Accidents, School Accidents, Workplace Injuries
Compensation paid-out by Bolton Council to children injured at school has totaled £150,000, the greatest bill in Greater Manchester excluding Manchester Council. One payout to an injured child alone was over £24,000. The council saw a total of fifty claims made on behalf of pupils who had suffered a personal injury at either primary or secondary school. Only fourteen of these claims were successful and a total of £150,881.70 was paid-out including legal fees. The lowest payout stood at £671 for slipping on leaves or ice on a footpath, while…
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Schools payout £1.5m to injured children
Posted: 14 April 2014
Posted in: Head and Brain Injuries, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request have revealed that Greater Manchester schools have paid out £1.5 million in compensation to injured pupils in the last five years. These accidents were mainly due to ‘basic health and safety failings’, which included one pupil being struck by a falling goal post, and another getting their fingers trapped behind a radiator. Of the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester, Manchester was responsible for the majority of claims. A total of 190 were made in Manchester, costing the council a total of £943,848. The figures…
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Employers flout the law, claims teachers’ union
Posted: 9 April 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, School Accidents
Teachers union, the NASUWT, has reportedly secured £15,610,924 compensation for members in 2012. The figure represented an increase of 24% compared to the 2011 figure of £12,625,509. The compensation was awarded for successful claims for unlawful deduction of wages, unfair dismissal, breach of contract, constructive dismissal and discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, disability, age and trade union activity. Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said: “It is clear from these cases that if employers operated good employment and health and safety practice, then teachers would not have…
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