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.
Middlesbrough woman wins compensation case
Posted: 21 April 2016
Posted in: Leg Injuries, School Accidents, Workplace Injuries, Workplace Slip
A Middlesbrough woman has won her claim for compensation against her employer, Middlesbrough Council, following a fall that caused serious damage to her leg. Mrs Linda Williams had been working as a kitchen assistant in a Middlesbrough primary school for 18 years. The 58-year-old claimant had been walking through the dining room during the lunch time service to collect some kitchen equipment when the accident happened. She slipped on a patch of wet floor which had just been mopped following a pupil urinating on it. There was no notice to…
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Teacher’s Family Claim Compensation for Asbestos Death
Posted: 15 March 2016
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Mesothelioma, School Accidents
The family of a teacher who was exposed to asbestos at work have successfully made a compensation claim against her former employer. Elizabeth Belt died of mesothelioma aged 68. This is a deadly form of cancer that is directly connected to breathing in asbestos fibres. Asbestos was routinely used as an insulating material in homes and schools before it was banned in 1999. The substance poses no threat while it lies dormant. However, when the material is disturbed the air can fill with the harmful dust. If breathed in, these…
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Schools payout £1.5m in compensation
Posted: 24 August 2015
Posted in: Leg Injuries, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
It has been revealed, following a recent Freedom of Information request, that schools paid out £1.5million to pupils last year through personal injury claims. The total figure went out to 150 pupils, including one claimant who won £4,000 after suffering burns from an icepack following a playground fall. The pupil received compensation from Gateshead council, and was said to have suffered the burns due to the lack of instructions on the pack. Of all the payouts made by Local Education Authorities in England, the majority of them were claimed as…
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Football heading could see schools sued
Posted: 29 August 2014
Posted in: Head and Brain Injuries, Neck Injuries, School Accidents, Sporting Injuries
With a group of American mothers suing Fifa for putting their children at risk of concussion, lawyers believe that it wont be long before parents in the UK do the same. The group has accused the Football Association of acting “carelessly and negligently”, calling for new safety rules to be introduced on how many times a player can head the ball during a game. This arose after research revealed the true dangers of heading a football. It has been proven that, with children, their neck muscles have not fully developed…
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School support worker claims for back injury
Posted: 16 July 2014
Posted in: School Accidents, Shoulder Injuries, Spine & Back Injuries, Workplace Injuries
Following only thirteen days at her new job at Rastrick High School, support worker Helen Sloan made a claim of £50,000 for a back injury. Her injury was caused as a result of pushing pupils around the school in wheelchairs, blaming inadequate training and a lack of risk assessment for her disabling injuries. Her position at the High School was to provide learning support for children with special needs. It was argued by Mrs Sloan’s barrister that the school failed to protect staff from the dangers of pushing wheelchairs on such…
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£23,000 to teacher who slipped in puddle
Posted: 28 May 2014
Posted in: Foot Injuries, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents, Spine & Back Injuries, Workplace Injuries, Workplace Slip
A teacher has received £23,000 in compensation after slipping on a puddle of water in a school corridor. The teacher suffered serious ligament damage in the accident, with injuries to their feet and ankle. The court ruled that the school was to blame for the accident, awarding the unnamed teacher with £23,000 in a taxpayer-funded settlement. The claim came to light following a Freedom of Information request to West Sussex County Council, which runs the school. It was highlighted that the compensation package awarded to the teacher was higher than…
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Almost a quarter of a million paid out in school injury compensation
Posted: 4 April 2014
Posted in: Arm Injury, Foot Injuries, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
Newly released figures have revealed that almost a quarter of a million pounds of taxpayers’ money has been paid out as injury compensation to children in Leeds over the last five years. This figure covers money paid out to children that have suffered injuries in Leeds’ primary and secondary schools, with injuries including broken bones and burns. One child received £35,000 in compensation after breaking a limb at school in 2009. The figures – obtained under the Freedom of Information Act – found that a total of 188 personal injury…
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Injury claims cost Essex County Council £1m
Posted: 4 March 2014
Posted in: Arm Injury, Head and Brain Injuries, School Accidents, Spine & Back Injuries, Workplace Injuries, Workplace Slip
Essex County Council has paid out over £1m over the last three years to staff injured in Essex schools. The largest payout, nearly a quarter of the total compensation paid to staff hurt in the city’s schools, went to a teacher who slipped on a ketchup packet. The teacher was awarded with £230,000 in compensation. Figures revealed that Essex County Council has paid out a total of £1.05m to 34 claimants between 2011 and 2013. This information was made available following a freedom of information request. Most of the payouts…
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Woman wins case after nearly drowning as a child
Posted: 23 October 2013
Posted in: Head and Brain Injuries, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
Annie Woodland had to be resuscitated after she almost drowned in a school swimming lesson thirteen years ago – she has only now won a landmark case at the Supreme Court. Ms Woodland had been a pupil at Whitmore Junior School in Basildon, Essex, when the accident occurred in 2000. Her near-death experience caused her to suffer severe brain damage, which her father, Ian, described as doing “enormous damage” to their family. 2011 saw a rejection of a £3m damage claim, which was maintained by the Court of Appeal last…
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Contaminated water supply at Exeter school
Posted: 2 September 2013
Posted in: Food Poisoning, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
A Carillion employee has been found guilty of producing a falsified document that provided greatly inaccurate figures concerning the level of iron present in a school’s water supply. Carillion is responsible for the infrastructure at six schools in Exeter, one being St Peter’s C of E School. St Peter’s C of E School had readings that revealed dangerously high levels of iron, while another Carillion-run school’s water supply – West Exe College – contained legionella, the bacterium that causes Legionnaires disease. The falsified document, which concerned the readings of St…
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Health and safety cuts put lives at risk
Posted: 9 April 2013
Posted in: Public Place Accidents, School Accidents, Workplace Injuries
Teacher’s union, the NASUWT, has raised concerns over the Coalition Government’s attacks on health and safety protections, claiming that these attacks threaten to put the lives of children and adults in schools and colleges at risk. At its recent Annual Conference, representatives of the NASUWT argued a motion condemning moves by the Coalition to remove vital health and safety protections in the workplace. Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said: “By trivialising and trashing health and safety provisions, the Coalition is gambling with people’s lives. “This is reckless and…
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Council in court for ignoring asbestos threat in school
Posted: 6 March 2013
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
Thurrock Council has been fined after admitting to failures in how it managed asbestos across its schools. Basildon Crown Court heard that despite being made aware of asbestos concerns in a boiler room at a Junior School, no action was taken. A specialist contractor tasked with carrying out an asbestos survey by the council in 2004 said that dust and debris found in the boiler room containing asbestos fibres should be removed immediately under licensed conditions. However, an HSE inspection in April 2010, as part of a national initiative to…
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