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.
Sheffield schools see £2.2million in personal injury claims
Posted: 6 July 2015
Posted in: Public Place Accidents, School Accidents, Workplace Injuries, Workplace Slip
Recently released figures have revealed that schools across Sheffield have received compensation claims totaling £2.2million from injured pupils and teachers in a five-year window. Of this total, £1m was actually paid out, with £54,000 going to a staff member who slipped, and £17,900 to a pupil who was exposed to chemical fumes. The claims were logged between 2009 and 2014, with Ecclesfield School having the most claims (10 claims, at a total value of £155,275). City School had the second highest number of claims, with nine claims totaling £116,807,…
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Pupil wins £250,000 in compensation for serious injury
Posted: 29 May 2015
Posted in: Foot Injuries, Personal Injury, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
A Leicester pupil has been awarded £250,000 in compensation after suffering life-changing injuries. Details of the payout made by Leicester City Council were released following a Freedom of Information request. However, the authority has declined all further comment and it is therefore unclear who the child was, how old he or she was, what school the incident happened at, and the extent of the injuries. A council spokesman, however, did state that the compensation covered loss of future career aspiration, suggesting the severity of the child’s injuries. Last year saw…
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£1m payout to injured pupils in Worcestershire
Posted: 4 December 2014
Posted in: Public Place Accidents, School Accidents, Spine & Back Injuries
Pupils across Worcestershire received more than £1 million in compensation in 2013. A Freedom of Information request uncovered that last year alone, a total of six claims were made against the county council, and a significant amount of compensation went to a middle-aged pupil who fell on a school trip in 2009. The council said it would not disclose any information regarding the individual claims, over fear of identification, but said that they were all valid claims. A total of £1,091,082 was paid out to pupils aged 5-18 between 2011…
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Over 1000 children injured every month during school runs
Posted: 27 September 2014
Posted in: Pedestrian Injuries, Public Place Accidents, Road Traffic Accidents, School Accidents, Wrongful & Accidental Death
New figures have revealed that every month around 1,100 children suffer serious and fatal injuries on their way to and from school. Road Safety Analysis carried out the research, with figures showing that one third of all child deaths and serious injury happens during the school run times. These times cover between 7:30am and 9:00am, and between 3:00pm and 4:30pm from Monday to Friday. The figures from 2011/12 found there to have been more than 800 serious and fatal injuries suffered by children during the ‘school run’ times. It is believed…
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Families launch legal battle after their children are injured in bus crash
Posted: 31 July 2014
Posted in: Bus Accidents, Leg Injuries, Neck Injuries, Public Transport Accidents, Road Traffic Accidents, School Accidents
The families of multiple schoolchildren injured in a bus crash in County Durham last month have launched legal action for their extensive injuries. The crash happened on the 3rd of June between one double-decker bus, operated by Go North-East, and a single-decker bus run by Stanley Travel in Shield Row Lane, near the junction of the A693. Both of the drivers and 28 schoolchildren were taken to a nearby hospital by 13 ambulances. Both of the buses had been taking schoolchildren to their schools when the crash happened: one to Tanfield School…
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Council pays out over £330,000 in school injury compensation
Posted: 18 June 2014
Posted in: Finger Injuries, Foot Injuries, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents, Workplace Injuries, Workplace Slip
A recent report has found that Lincolnshire County Council has paid out over £330,000 in compensation to those injured at school. With claims ranging from a trapped thumb to a book falling on a child’s foot, the “compensation culture” argument has been raised in relation to many of the council’s payouts. The figures were released as part of a BBC Freedom of Information request which looked at the figures from 2008 to 2014. One teacher was awarded with £4,000 after they “almost fell” when a stool broke. Other successful claimants included…
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£68k paid-out to children injured at school
Posted: 6 April 2014
Posted in: Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
Newly released figures have revealed that North Yorkshire County Council has paid-out a total of £68,000 in compensation to children injured at school. The figures were gained under a Freedom of Information Act request, which found that £26,000 was paid out for slips, trips and falls, £12,000 paid out as a result of PE accidents, and £6,800 as a result of faulty equipment. The figures represent the compensation claimed from the council, which does not include schools in York, over the past five years. North Yorkshire County Council comprises 373 schools,…
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Teacher slips on ketchup sachet and suffers serious personal injuries
Posted: 16 March 2014
Posted in: School Accidents, Workplace Injuries
A teacher has been awarded £230,000 after slipping on a tomato ketchup sachet in a school corridor. The Essex high school teacher suffered serious personal injuries after the fall in March 2008. He only claimed for the accident in March 2011 — eight days before the three-year time limit on making a personal injury claim. The teacher’s payout was part of the £1m paid-out in compensation to teachers injured between 2011 and 2013. A Freedom of Information request found that Essex County Council agreed on a settlement of £230,000 in April last…
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Schoolboy awarded £15,000 in compensation
Posted: 12 March 2014
Posted in: Hip Injuries, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents, Workplace Injuries
An Essex schoolboy has been awarded £15,197 worth of compensation after a teacher threw a DVD case in the classroom and cut his eyebrow. The plastic DVD cover accidently hit the boy, causing him to sustain a “tiny cut to the eyebrow”. The boy’s family succeeded in securing a five-figure pay-out from Essex County Council. The council said that the teacher had not meant to throw the case with such force, and had only been trying to pass the DVD to a pupil but “unintentionally threw it with more force than expected and…
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999 errors resulted in baby’s death
Posted: 30 November 2013
Posted in: Medical Negligence, School Accidents, Wrongful & Accidental Death
After a 999 call-handler made fatal errors when answering a phone-call regarding a choking baby, the nine-month old baby tragically died as a result. Millie Thompson started choking while being fed Shepard’s pie at her nursery in October 2012, after which a nursery-worker phoned for assistance. Instead of categorizing the phone-call as urgent, ambulance worker Aaliyah Ormerod asked the caller the scripted questions and then failed to remain on the line to listen to the baby’s breathing. It was heard at an inquest that Ms Ormerod should have alerted a…
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School trips are not inherently risky in comparison to schools themselves
Posted: 6 February 2013
Posted in: Public Place Accidents, School Accidents, Sporting Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) is encouraging teachers to embrace outdoor activities after discovering that more accidents take place in schools than on trips. Injuries from leisure activities show that children are far more likely to get hurt playing football or rugby at school than going on a school hiking trip, for instance. Statistics also show that accidental deaths are very rare on school trips – with one child dying each year, on average, in the UK. These figures are set against the 7 – 10…
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