Personal injury news 08/01/2007
Scottish teachers make compensation claims worth £250,000
Personal injury compensation claim payouts to teachers in Scotland totalled more than £170,000 in 2005/06, it has been announced.
The figure was revealed by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) and, with the addition of legal fees, the total cost of the accident claims was almost a quarter of a million pounds.
The cost of the compensation claims made by teachers throughout the country has remained almost unchanged since the previous year and advocates of a safer workplace have used this to argue that not enough is being done to protect teaching staff.
Ronnie Smith, General Secretary of the EIS, told reporters, "The lack of progress in making our schools and colleges the safest possible environment for teaching and learning is a real cause for concern.
"While it is a fact of life that accidents occur, all employers have an obligation to do everything they can to protect their employees and to ensure that they can work in a safe and secure environment."
Although the overall payouts have remained on a fairly level par with the previous year, the amount of personal injury compensation resulting from assaults by pupils has increased almost tenfold. The latest figures show that the £5,525 paid out in 2004/05 has now risen to a huge £55,000.
Included within this was one Scottish teacher who was awarded £26,000 in injury compensation when attacked by a pupil and another who won £18,000 for facial injuries sustained in a similar attack. Teachers suffering personal injuries when breaking up fights have also been awarded damages.
Mr Smith warned that teaching will suffer as a profession if such assaults on staff continue and said, "We don't want to get to a situation where it was felt that this sort of violent incident came with the territory, because that would be a major deterrent to recruitment and would have an impact on the quality of teaching."
He also added that it was the duty of the employer to protect teachers, saying, "Employers have a duty to assess and minimise the risk facing teachers, and also to send a clear message that all violent conduct - physical or verbal - will not be tolerated."
Despite the huge rise in the payouts made to those injured by their own pupils, the most common risk to teachers remains accidents of a slip, trip and fall nature. These types of accidents at work result in the highest number of compensation claims and can, unions claim, be easily prevented by employers ensuring a safe working environment is provided at all times.
Accident claims of this type made over the past 12 months in Scotland have included a £50,000 payout for a teacher who suffered serious personal injuries in a school car park fall, 5,000 following a slip caused by a wet floor and £3,000 for a teacher who was hurt when she tripped over a mat.
Other compensation claims that were included in the £250,000 cost of Scottish teachers' injuries included one member of staff who received £4,500 after suffering hearing loss caused by excessive noise and £4,000 for a teacher who sustained shoulder injuries whilst pushing wheelchair-bound pupils.
Hearing about the latest personal injury compensation figures, a Scottish Executive spokesman said, "We want schools to be safe places for pupils and teachers.
"Councils, as teachers' employers, are responsible for ensuring the health and safety of their staff."
