Councils in Tayside and Fife have paid out nearly £1.5 million in compensation to staff injured at work over the past five years.
The figures reveal that hundreds of thousands of pounds have been paid out across the four local authority areas Dundee City, Perth and Kinross, Angus and Fife councils for accidents at work including trips, slips and falls.
One worker in Fife received a payout of more than £67,000 because of poor working conditions.
Other workers received payouts for being ”man handled”.
A further two Dundee City Council education workers both received payouts of £342 and £566 after they were the victims of assault and/or battery. The incidents occurred in March 2008 and November 2009.
The figures released under freedom of information legislation have prompted the Taxpayers’ Alliance to call on local authorities to take measures to protect themselves from ”frivolous” claims.
Although councils will be insured against some claims, their premiums will go up as more claims are made.
Fife Council has faced the biggest total bill over the past five years, paying out just under £900,000 to workers.
One employee was paid £40,000 after falling at work in 2006, while two workers were paid £2,250 and £3,500 respectively after ”needlestick” accidents. This is where they are injured on a syringe and are at risk of serious infection such as HIV or hepatitis.
Most payouts, around two thirds of all claims, are awarded to workers who have injured themselves falling or when lifting or moving equipment.
Out of 147 successful claims made against Fife Council, 97 were the result of slips or falls or injuries sustained as a result of these kinds of accident.
Dundee City Council paid nearly £250,000 to injured workers. Of the £234,324.40 paid since 2007 the largest single sum was awarded to a Dundee Contracts worker in 2007 who received £13,061.81 after being injured at work. No specific cause for the injury was given by the council.
One member of staff in a city primary school was awarded just under £7,000 after being manhandled in 2009.
Perth and Kinross Council made payments worth a total of £123,911.54 between 2006 and today, although only £1,000 has been paid out since April 2009.
However, in 2008-09 the local authority had to pay out £54,000 to seven members of staff who sustained a range of injuries while at work. These include one staff member who sustained ”cranial trauma” after being attacked by a client and another who suffered ”facial scarring” after falling from a kerb.
Angus Council had the fewest number of claims made against it by employees but has still had to make payments of £119,352.90 over the past five years. These include two awards of more than £30,000 in 2006-07.
The first of these was £32,500 to an employee who injured a knee when an object fell on them while another worker received £32,000 after suffering an ”industrial disease” caused by the repetitive use of machinery.
Robert Oxley, campaign manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said councils must take steps to prevent themselves falling victim to ”compensation culture.”
He said: ”Accidents at work are unfortunate but local authorities need to do everything they can to reduce the number and cost of incidents which taxpayers end up paying for.
”Where claims are clearly frivolous they need to fight taxpayers’ corner rather than giving in easily to spurious claims.”
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