Bristol teaching staf personal injury claims revealed

Details about personal injury claims by teachers in the Bristol area have been
reported in the Bristol Post.
Trips, slips and falls have seen local authorities in the region pay out thousands
of pounds every year from their insurance policies, the news source revealed.
The largest compensation claim a teacher has made in the region in recent years
was valued at nearly 8,!!!. This involved to a teacher wor"ing for #outh
$loucestershire %ouncil, after he made an accident at wor" compensation claim
when he tripped on a football net.
This personal injury claim lasted for eight years and involved a four&day court
hearing. The teacher only received '().*!, but because the claim too" so long
and because the council was partially to blame for the incident, they had to pay
8+,!,!.! in legal fees.
%ourts deemed that the claimant was *!- responsible for their injuries and that
his personal injuries were not as serious as he had said they were, but personal
injury solicitors would point out that the council could have easily reduced this
bill by not dragging the claim out for so long. .ecent legislative changes made in
/uly of this year should see cost&to&damage ratios such as this less fre0uent in
the future.
#ome of the other accident at wor" compensation claims the Bristol Post outlined
include a case involving Blac"well #chool, in which a teacher slipped over
something in the lunch hall and su1ered injuries as a result. #he received
(,,!!!.
2 teaching assistant was given +,8!! in compensation when she su1ered a foot
fracture due to uneven 3ooring in a playground. #imilarly, in this case, her legal
fees were signi4cantly higher than her damages & in this case, they reached
,,*!!, which the council was also liable for.
Personal injury claims involving school pupils
#ome of the claims the news source reported on involved school pupils. 2
student at Pill5s #t 6atherine5s #chool cut their "nee on a poorly&laid paving slab
after slipping on wet leaves and received (*,,(), while a pupil in 7orle5s #t
8artin5s #chool was given (+,99+ after they sustained burns to their arms when
a teacher accidentally pumped hot glue from a glue gun on to them.
2 7orle #chool pupil received ),''' after fracturing their elbow slipping on a
wet 3oor within the school5s premises.
:owever, the Bristol Post did not state when most of these accidents occurred.
Bristol %ity %ouncil spo"eswoman :ilda 6alap said that the local authority has
only received one successful personal injury claim involving teaching sta1 in the
last 4ve years. #he con4rmed that releasing more detailed information to the
news source could potentially disclose individuals5 personal data and therefore
should not be disclosed.
;2#<7T $eneral #ecretary %hris 6eates said that it is not easy to obtain
personal injury compensation, dismissing claims of a 5compensation culture5
a1ecting the <65s schools.
2ll of the compensation claims successfully made would have involved school
districts failing to adhere to their duty of care to protect the health and safety of
their sta1 members.
%arol #mith is very interested in preventing accident at wor" compensation
claims. #he researches industrial accident claims for a team of (*!! cash
advance solicitors. http=>>www.cashadvancesolicitors.co.u">