Glasgow City Council paid £600k to employees hurt at work
A Freedom of Information request has revealed that Glasgow City Council has been forced to fork out an eye-watering £629,291 over the last three years to workers injured in slips, trips, falls and manual handling of defective equipment while at work.
The highest pay out to staff was £447,487 in the financial year 2022/23, while £181,804 was paid during 2023/24.
Physical injury was the most common reason for action being taken, with 161 claims submitted. This number was followed by physical and psychological injuries, with 45 local authority employees successfully lodging actions.
Councillor Paul Carey BEM says more care needs to be taken to safeguard people doing their duties and subsequently protect the public purse.
Councillor Paul Carey BEM (Image: Supplied) He told the Glasgow Times: 'This is a shocking amount of money to spend on compensating staff injured doing their jobs. Here we have a cash-strapped council paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for slips and accidents that should be avoided. If more effective protective measures were in place and proper risk assessments had been carried out, this figure would be substantially lower.
"The council quite simply doesn't have this kind of money to waste on claims that could, and should, have been avoided."
Councils have a duty of care to staff under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which states they should take every reasonable step to ensure people's safety in the course of their employment.
Examples of measures include conducting regular risk assessments, communicating an up-to-date health and safety policy to all staff, providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and training employees to work safely without harming themselves or others.
Failure to comply with any of the above can constitute a failure around health and safety codes and a breach of the local authority's duty of care.
Employees who have been injured in a workplace accident may be able to make a claim for compensation if their employer is found to have been at fault by failing to provide a safe working environment.
Solicitor for JF Law, Lucy Parker, said: 'Councils, like all employers, have a legal obligation and owe a significant duty of care to safeguard their workforce and prevent them from harm.
"Unfortunately, council workers can often be involved in workplace accidents ranging from seemingly minor issues like slips on wet floors and trips on uneven surfaces to more serious incidents involving manual handling and defective equipment. Sometimes, workplace accidents could have been avoided with proper risk assessments and safety measures.
"Making sure that councils are sticking to their legal responsibilities after an accident is crucial as it can ensure lessons are learned to prevent future incidents."
In 2022, 78 workplace accident claims were made against Glasgow City Council, the highest number over the past three years. A year later, this number decreased to 71.
The council has seen the number of actions drop over the past year, with a total of 64 successful claims.
Glasgow City Council were approached for comment.
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