Avoidable Injuries Cost Schools Millions in Compensation
£4.65m – this is the total amount injuries occurring in schools have cost the tax payer over the last five years following successful compensation claims (statistic from employment law experts, ELAS, 2014).
To add insult to (literal) injury, a significant proportion of these claims have been due to trapped fingers in doors – an avoidable, yet extremely worrying – not to mention expensive – reality. According to these latest figures, a total of 2,765 personal injury claims have been lodged against schools across Greater London, Birmingham, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire since September 2008. Of these claims for various injuries, 615 were successful, paying out a total of £4.65m in compensation.
Many may feel that accidents involving children and trapped fingers in doors are an inevitable part of life’s learnings. However, all of these incidents are completely preventable, and it is especially important within schools to safeguard children against potential dangers.
A common theme amongst the incidents reported were fractured bones and severed fingers, with several injuries resulting from unsafe classroom and PE equipment. In total, £93,560 was paid out in compensation to claimants directly due to injuries to fingers. Many of these incidents were entirely preventable if only the right precautions had been taken by schools.
We have invested 15 years in developing innovative products which ensure that basic health and safety issues are a thing of the past. As a result it’s frustrating to know that in relative terms, a small investment by schools in safety products could ensure that they are not vulnerable or liable to any potential compensation claims.
However, it’s not all bad news, as progress is continually being made. So far, we have provided over 1 million Fingershield anti-finger trapping devices, protecting tens of thousands of fingers all over the world. It’s our mission to ensure that not only do these compensation claims fall in number, but that the number of incidents involving trapped fingers in doors across the UK also falls. Each incident is distressing, particularly when it happens to a child.
