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.
School accidents and abuse costing half a million pounds in compensation
Posted: 7 September 2015
Posted in: Foot Injuries, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
According to figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request, councils across the country have paid out almost half a million pounds to injured pupils in the last three years. Payouts included £21,845 to a student who suffered a playground injury due to ‘inadequate supervision’, and £13,358 to a pupil who suffered injury after having their foot trapped in a defective door. The largest payout went to a group of pupils over “sexual abuse by teacher”. A total of £426,283 was paid out by Suffolk County Council, with a spokeswoman…
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Teacher to receive £1.5m for workplace harassment
Posted: 22 July 2015
Posted in: Employer Negligence, School Accidents
A schoolteacher from Bishop Auckland is to receive £1.5million in compensation after years of suffering workplace victimisation. 43-year-old Karen Hall contacted Durham County Council chief executive George Garlick when the bullying became an issue, with the hope that he would take action. However, despite numerous letters and attempts of contact, he failed to acknowledge her plead for help. The former teacher of West Cornforth Primary School said she suffered eighteen individual instances of victimisation at work, which have left her with serious health problems. She said: “My health is still…
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London schools could be sued over air pollution illness
Posted: 29 June 2015
Posted in: Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
It was announced last week that schools could face legal action if their pupils fall ill as a result of air pollution. This comes as part of the Government’s plan to meet the EU limits on air pollution, with potential payouts running into the tens of thousands. Campaigners have argued that more than 1,000 London schools are within 150 meters of busy roads, which see the passing of at least 10,000 vehicles every day. This pollution greatly increases the risk of breathing and heart problems amongst children, something that parents…
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Child wins £250,000 in compensation after accident at school
Posted: 9 June 2015
Posted in: Foot Injuries, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
A Leicester pupil has been awarded £250,000 in compensation for their serious injury at school. The case was brought forward following a Freedom of Information request, yet Leicester City Council has refused to provide any information on the case, including who the child was, what school it happened at, and the extent of the injury. The authority said that providing any information whatsoever could damage the anonymity of the child. What the Freedom of Information request did uncover is that the incident happened in 2008, and that compensation was only…
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4 years for dangerous driver who killed schoolgirl and injured several others
Posted: 2 May 2015
Posted in: Car Accidents, Leg Injuries, Pedestrian Injuries, Road Traffic Accidents, School Accidents, Wrongful & Accidental Death
Robert Blackwell, 19, from Hayway Lane, Bampton, Oxfordshire, has been given a 4-year jail sentence after admitting dangerous driving resulting in the death of schoolgirl, Liberty Baker, 14, on 30 June. Blackwell’s car mounted the pavement, killing Liberty and injuring 2 of her friends as they walked to school in Witney, Oxfordshire. Blackwell admitted causing death by dangerous driving and inflicting serious injury by dangerous driving, and admitted to having smoked cannabis on the day before taking to the road. The incident took place in Curbridge Road and also involved Paul Cracknell…
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Derby school for deaf ‘inadequate’
Posted: 2 May 2015
Posted in: Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
Following an inspection carried out by Ofsted last December, the residential Royal School for the Deaf in Derby has been put into special measures. This follows the discovery by inspectors that children were being put at risk of grooming and that pupil safety was not being prioritised. Following December’s inspection, a week long, unannounced inspection carried out in March found that recommendations for improvement had still not been implemented, and that “emergency safeguarding systems put in place by leaders” since the December inspection were “unsound”. December’s report found the school…
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Families of injured children take legal action
Posted: 5 August 2014
Posted in: Bus Accidents, Leg Injuries, Neck Injuries, Road Traffic Accidents, School Accidents
The families of 28 injured schoolchildren have launched legal action just over a month after two buses collided during their school runs. The accident happened in County Durham on the 3rd of June when one bus, taking children to Tanfield School, crashed into another bus that had been taking children to St Bede’s School. The two buses crashed head-on in Lanchester, with two drivers and 28 children taken to hospital as a result. The accident happened in Shield Row Lane, near the junction of the A693. One law firm is due to…
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Injured teachers receive record £26m in compensation
Posted: 20 April 2014
Posted in: Arm Injury, Foot Injuries, Head and Brain Injuries, Neck Injuries, Pedestrian Injuries, Pothole Injuries, School Accidents, Shoulder Injuries, Workplace Injuries
Newly released figures have revealed that school staff have been awarded a record of £26 million in compensation. One teacher received £110,000 after tripping on a pothole in the driveway of the school she worked at. She is just one of the hundreds of school staff who have claimed for a work-related injury. The NASUWT teaching union assisted many of its members in claiming compensation, winning teaching staff more than £20 million in 2013. This figure was up a third on the previous year, with the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL)…
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‘Guillotine gate’ injures six-year-old
Posted: 5 April 2014
Posted in: Finger Injuries, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
After a gate was found to be potentially dangerous by a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report in 2004, a young boy has lost three fingertips in the gate described as a “guillotine”. The six-year-old boy, who suffered with learning difficulties, got his hand trapped in the hinges of the gate, cutting off three of his fingertips. Salford City Council has been fined £20,000 for the accident that happened at Springwood Special Educational Needs Primary School in Swinton. Even though the gate had been highlighted as dangerous in 2004, the council took…
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Redbridge council sees highest payouts for accidents at school
Posted: 25 January 2014
Posted in: Finger Injuries, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents, Workplace Injuries
New figures have revealed that Redbridge Council has paid out almost £100,000 in compensation to people involved in accidents at school. Out of all of London’s 32 boroughs, Redbridge Council sees the 5th highest amount of payouts, with neighbouring Waltham Forest compensating as little as half of Redbridge Council, with only a third of the claims. The figures showed that over the last five years, the council has received 61 personal injury claims that relate to children, staff, parents, visitors, and contractors. Figures uncovered by the freedom of information disclosure…
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Bromley and Hackney have safest schools in London
Posted: 15 January 2014
Posted in: Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
With London’s schools having paid out over £1,609,000 to injured children in the last five years, figures have uncovered Bromley and Hackney to have the safest schools in the city. Health and safety experts ‘Employment Law Advisory Service’ (ELAS) released the figures through a ‘Freedom of Information’ request, showing that over 1,010 personal injury claims were made against the city’s schools since September 2008. The figures not only highlighted Bromley and Hackney as having the safest schools, Enfield was recognised as the least safe, with a total of 18…
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Concerns raised over compensation culture in UK primary schools
Posted: 13 January 2014
Posted in: Head and Brain Injuries, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
Figures released yesterday have revealed that hundreds of primary school pupils are receiving record payouts. The last five years has seen the funding of £3.3million worth of compensation in school injury claims, with injuries spanning from slipping on wet floors to hitting heads on goalposts. Even though calculations lead to the figure of £3.3million, experts believe that the true cost is much more. These figures, obtained by the Employment Law Advisory Service, involve schools across England’s three biggest cities: London, Birmingham and Manchester. Health and safety consultant Wayne Dunning, however,…
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£150,000 injury compensation paid out to Gloucestershire pupils
Posted: 8 July 2013
Posted in: Personal Injury, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
It has been recognised that over the last five years, more than £150,000 in personal injury compensation has been paid out to school pupils across Gloucestershire. With the largest payout standing at £18,000, the council has been forced to look into the underlying cause of such payments. A Freedom of Information request by the BBC discovered that Gloucestershire County Council awarded 29 pupils with payments between 2008 and 2013. One of the recognised claims was for an incident that happened ten years earlier. The figures taken by the BBC found that £27,000…
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