A teaching union has secured £295,597 for members who were injured or assaulted at their workplace. The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) said all teachers and lecturers deserved to work in a safe place, and employers had to ensure all possible steps were taken to keep a safe working environment.
It said the settlements showed that “the employer had failed in their duty of care” to their employees. EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: “While the EIS will always be diligent in pursuing appropriate compensation for our members, our clear preference would be for this area of our work to be unnecessary. If workplaces are properly maintained and safe, the chances of any employee suffering injury are substantially reduced.
“All employers must treat the health and safety of their employees as a priority, so that injuries to employees – and costly financial settlements – can be avoided. It is in everyone’s best interests for our schools, colleges and universities to be safe places to work and to study.”
While some of the more serious cases involve assaults on teaching staff, the compensation settlements reveal that the most frequent cause of injury continues to be accidents caused by slips and trips. Such accidents are avoidable if employers implement basic, inexpensive safety requirements, the union said.
The EIS managed to secure £149,500 in accident claims for seven members, with one member tripping on a boulder and suffering an elbow fracture and another slipping on black ice and breaking their ankle in two places.
Two members were assaulted by pupils, causing serious injuries, with one member being compensated with £130,000 after being struck on the head by a stone thrown by a pupil and suffering a brain bleed. They were absent from work for nine months.
A second member was awarded £10,597 after a pupil attacked them and caused injuries to their head and knee.
Ms Bradley said: “The settlements that the EIS has secured for its members are to compensate them for the impact of their injury – including pain and suffering, loss of earnings and future losses.
“Every case is calculated with the aim of restoring members to the position they were in before they were injured at work.
“No-one wants to be in a position where they are claiming compensation of this type but, where our members are injured through no fault of their own, it is right that appropriate settlements are pursued and achieved.”
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