A Classroom Assistant Breaks Her Elbow After Slipping On a Wet Classroom Floor

What Happened?

Jenny* worked as a Classroom Assistant in a Primary School. Her job involved her in getting to school early each morning to prepare the classroom for the children’s lessons that day. The floor of the classroom where she worked was half carpet and half floorboards. Shortly after she had entered the classroom, she stepped off the carpeted area to walk towards the sink. She did not know that the cleaner had been in the classroom and mopped the floorboards approximately 15 minutes before she had entered the classroom. The cleaner had not properly dried the floor after she had mopped it and had not left a Wet Floor sign on the floor, even though she knew that Joyce would be arriving shortly after she finished.

Jenny – who was carrying a tray – took a couple of steps onto the floor and slipped on the area that had not been properly mopped. She could not keep her balance, but in trying to do so, she fell on her left-hand side meeting the ground with her left elbow – which fractured.

How Was She Affected?

Jenny suffered from a very painful elbow injury. She was given a certificate from her GP stating that she was not fit for work, but her dedication to her pupils meant that she wanted to carry on. Her school were able to find her lighter duties for her and she managed to carry on with her job, meaning that she did not lose any wages.

However, she struggled to look after her young family and keep her house clean and well-maintained. She relied upon help from her husband and in particular from her mum, who did much of the cooking, cleaning and caring for the children that Joyce normally did as part of her everyday care for her family.

How Did We Win The Claim?

Those school denied that the floor was wet or dangerous and said that Jenny should have been aware that the cleaner came in each morning and not the floor had been mopped. However, we obtained the schools risk assessment for the cleaning of classrooms and the protocol for cleaners, which showed that a cleaner should always leave a wet floor sign on the floor once they had finished mopping. We used this evidence to show to the court that the school had not followed their own protocols and warn the claim for Jenny.

How Much Compensation Did He Receive?

We sent Jenny to a specialist Consultant Upper Limb Surgeon. We asked the Surgeon to investigate whether Jenny my developed arthritis and her elbow as she got older, but the surgeon carry out x-rays to rule this out. Happily for Jenny, most of the pain and discomfort settled within three months and she was able to return to her normal duties. Her elbow was completely recovered within a year or so without physiotherapy. The court awarded her £3600 for her elbow, £1850 for the care that a family had given her and £50 for her miscellaneous expenses such as medicines and travel. Jenny was awarded £5500 in compensation.

If you or someone close to you has been injured in a slipping accident at work, or in a shop, supermarket or any public place, The Claims Partnership will be happy to help you. All our services are No Win/No Fee. We never charge our clients for advice and always have time to chat on the phone, via text or by email. We will do our best to help you and point you in the right direction, even if we cannot take on your case.

You can contact us:

By Phone on 01772562084
By Email @ info@theclaimspartnership.co.uk
By Text on 07451279084

*In order to protect our client’s privacy and confidentiality, as well as to comply with the settlement terms that we have agreed with Defendants, our clients name has been changed, as have some other minor details.