Personal injury advice from
Thompsons Solicitors
Residential Home Employee Receives Compensation for Workplace Assault
14th January 2009
A woman assaulted at work by a child with behavioural difficulties was awarded compensation when her employer was found to be responsible for the incident. The case was handled by our specialist personal injury lawyers.
Assault at Work
The claimant was a manager at a residential home for boys with behavioural difficulties. It was one of four adjacent homes run by the local authority, each with six or seven boys and one manager. Each manager was the expert for the boys in their home and risk assessments had been carried out for each child, however this information was not shared between the homes. Therefore, the claimant did not have knowledge of the previous behaviour of the boys in the other homes.
A child from the home next door to hers was banging a football against the door of the home she ran, so our client went to the door in order to speak to him. When she opened it he kicked the ball past her. He did not appear to be agitated, however when she advised he could not come in he barged through and caused her body to impact with the doorframe. She suffered a personal injury as a result.
Employer Liability
Our client’s employer initially denied that they were responsible, so it was necessary for our lawyers, who specialise in workplace injury claims, to pursue the case to trial.
The boy had been assessed as being at the highest category of risk to others and his individual plan stated that he “will often challenge decisions made by staff and has shown himself to be capable of reacting aggressively when he does not get his own way”. Unfortunately, because this information was not made available to the claimant, she was not aware of this.
Had she seen the risk assessment, she would have called for someone from his house to come and handle the matter instead of opening the door to him herself. Her employer argued that this would not have been the case and the children’s behaviour was discussed at monthly meetings, however the Judge preferred the evidence of the claimant and found in her favour.
She was awarded damages in respect of her injuries and losses.
Injury Claim Advice
If you have suffered a personal injury due to the negligence of someone else, for example in an accident at work or road accident, you may be entitled to make a compensation claim.
Contact The Legal Line on 0800 0328511 for cost free, confidential advice. Alternatively, complete a claim enquiry form online and one of our advisers will call you back.
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