Middlesbrough woman wins compensation case
Posted: April 21, 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 warn staff and pupils that the floor was wet, and there were no procedures in place to formally deal with spillages.
Running the school without adequate health and safety procedures
Mrs Williams contacted her union who engaged their solicitors to pursue the case. It was claimed that the Council had been running the school without implementing adequate health and safety procedures, putting their staff and pupils in harm’s way. Mrs Williams stated: “None of the dinner ladies had been trained in the cleaning up of spillages which is incredible given the majority of spillages happen in schools over the lunchtime period. They simply adopted their own system which unfortunately wasn’t enough to prevent my accident happening. As a result I suffered a knee injury and my employment with the council remains uncertain”.
The judge at the trial described the lack of training as “quite incredible”, and Mrs Williams’ solicitors stated that they hoped that the trial would serve as a warning to other schools and organisations. They hoped that the outcome would encourage others to introduce measures to ensure that no harm would come to others in the future.
If you have suffered an injury at work, and are looking to claim compensation, please contact us.
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