I was injured by pupil at work.......need advice before tomorrow?

[batey]

Hi, I've not been around for a bit, have turned from "regular user" into "dipper"! However, I thought you guys may be able to help me. Briefly, I work as a LSA with a boy (6y/o) who has severe behavioural problems. And on Fri he managed to throw himself at a door with great force catching my hand in the middle. So I now have 1 very bruised finger and one fractured finger. Both fingers are strapped together (3rd and 4th). The thing is friends keep saying I should claim off the school insurance?
So should I? How do I go about that? Is it something the school will prefer me not to do? Is it money grabbing? I don't know....it is painful and I have to keep them strapped for 1-2 weeks. I cant get it wet. It's my right hand so many things are proving difficult, blah blah. Not sure yet if I can drive like this,am going to test that later today. So any thoughts? He hurt me before in Jan and I didn't do anything then and I'm not in a union.

Sorry, forgot to say why it's urgent is besause there is a meeting tomorrow afternoon about what happened and I think if I am going to say/do anything it should be sooner rather than later. Cheers.

Was it a direct attack at you or just that he caught your hand by accident?
What happened in January?

Have you been offered any form of restraint training like Team Teach?

I personally wouldn't. It sounds like on this occasion it wasn't on purpose....
If we all started claiming money every time something happened to us we'd be millionaires!

its not so much the insurance thing but the safety aspect, the school need to aware that thislad isa safety risk, did you tell them about the incident on friday?? it should be cataloged in an incident book, because also this lad could claim tha tyou hurt him, you need to cover yourself, otherwise go directly to see the headteacher tomorrow and explain whatshappened, but thisshould be in an incident book, the school may need to do a risk assesment on thislad.

just saw second post sorry, right well you need to be asking for a risk assesment.

It sounds like an accident and I cant see any point in claiming from insurance. That's my opinion although I guess if you feel strongly about claiming that's what the insurance is there for.

I would definetely recommend joining a union though.

Can you explain what an LSA is?

Really if your working with children with severe behavioral problems you should have at least been offered to be put through some form of restraint training to prevent incidents like this from happening. Not only to protect yourself but to protect the young person also.

personally i would never try and claim money from a company i worked for if it was only an accident.
this 6 yr old buy probably has no self control over his behaviour, and think how devastated his parents\guardians would be if it should go that far.
Did you sign any contract with outlines of how this kind of behaviour could happen, you could have signed away any right to compensation due to the nature of your job.

learning support assistant

I thought it was along those lines. Thank you.

What happened in January and was the incident logged by the school then?

I did restraint training in Dec but have to say that wouldn't have made any difference is this case. It wasn't a personnal attack as such. His problems are such that he "reacts" rapidly to situations where he may be losing control and does whatever he can, violent or not to regain control. So although he didn't intend to hurt, he's aware enough to know that would have been the result of what he did.

Sorry should have said, accident form done straight away, incident book filled in etc. Spent Fri afternoon in A and E being x-rayed and seeind Doctor. Have to go back to Fracture clinic in 2 weeks.

If you did claim on the school insurance, what would happen or what would you expect?

That's just it, I don't know? Have to say the insurance thing didn't cross my mind until people keep telling me to do something about it. The school/head are really very good and supportive and I knew what I was taking on with him. He has been "risk assessed". I think I'll record what happened and maybe talk to the head informally if I can.Still not sure though.

Tbh I wouldn't claim off the school insurance but why not go in on Monday to the meeting and tell them you will be going off sick whilst your hand heals.
I don't know how easy that may be for you to do but if it's your right hand it's not going to make your job particularly easy, is it?

I still can't help but think that there must be something else to help you in these situations. Was there anyone else in the room with you at the time of the incident or was it just you and the child?

Sorry to hear about your incident batey. Must be very uncomfortable. I would definitely speak to the school about the incident and without a doubt log it in their accident book which you should do for any accident. As for making a claim, in order to establish a claim Im pretty sure you would have to claim that they should have been able to foresee the accident which of course they wouldnt have been able to do. Eg. if a window was left open protruding into the playground and a child ran into it, there is a very real risk this could have happened and is therefore foreseeable (actually this did happen at our school on Thursday to my friend's little boy who cut the top of his head open). The only other course for claiming may be criminal injuries compensation but truly wouldnt be worth the trouble. However speak to your Union if you have one as they may have a scheme in place whereby they pay out for accidents which are not claimable. and I hope it gets better soon xxxx Good luck tomorrow

ermm not sure about the school insurance but I would be looking to ensure full pay as its a work related injury and also for it not to affect your sickness record. They also do need to be putting into place interventions that r safe to you and the pupil.
Good luck

Tiffini - I slipped on some oil when I was 8 months pregnant at work and dislocated my sacro-ileac joint. I felt the same as you and didnt claim but still 12 years on it gives me grief. Insurance is in place for these accidents and whilst a small injury isnt worth claiming for, if it impacts on your lifestyle then it certainly is worth it.

jampots, I agree with what you did, because oil on the floor is not an accident, just carelessness on whoever spilled it and left it

Thanks for all these replies. Tbh the school/we do eveything we can think of to minimise his violence and there are always 2 of us with him, even when he has a wee! But his unpredictability is a major problem for us to deal with, and for him and the chances of him progressing through school. But like you said Jampots if it impacts on your lifestyle then that's what insurance is for? And I'm concerned that 48hrs on my finger still looks like a chipolata.Oh I don't know, I'll have to give this some more thought.

Sounds to me as if the environment has lots of problems for this boy. I found out my son (then aged 5) was being violent towards staff at an annual review when restraint training was requested. Luckily our private SALT had been in school when a violent incident was triggered and I was able to begin to get ot the bottom of what had happened. Basicallly he used to avoid doing things he wanted to do by running off. So his LSA was (I assume told) to hold him down and "force" him to do it (eg things like bead threading). Unsurprisingly when suddenly forced down - with no warning (he's non verbal autistic) (apprently she sat behind him, grabeed his hands and tried to force him to thread beads)he hit backwards with his head. The SALT was hoirrified and told me off record that the school were escalating incidents.

Anyway the long shot is- he changed schools to a special school and so many behavioural problems have gone, not just because of better trained staff but also because of the environment. For example he can't run off as the handles are too high. He still has his moments but he's never needed restraining, and he now can behave appropriately for short times even in very difficult circumstances (eg cafes).

Anyway I know that special school is not an option for many but I would say you need to look at the environment first of all and see if you can make any changes too that. My son woulod have got on a lot better at mainstream if it had been possible for him too sit opposite his LSA- unfortunately space restraints made that an impossibility.

BTW at the annual review I went to the staff suddenly started showing their war wounds (bearing in mind this was the first I knew of it). I was horrified and thought it totally inappropriate. I was very thankful that we'd asked his private SALT to attend (who taught in a school for children with autism and challenging behaviour) as she stepped in and told them they were being inappropriate and also told them that my son was not challenging in the scheme of things and they were messing up. Without her there I think I would have dissolved.

Anyway new school since January and afaik he has pinched one member of staff once (as a game- not aggressively).

I would be careful about claiming off insurance for something that sounds as if it wasn't intentional. Do you have much contact with the parents? I found out that one of my son's LSA's was playing a matyr role in school (told to me by a number of people) and I was well peed off to be honest (especially as her mismanagement was causing the problems in the first place- although not her fault- she didn't have enough training- I was also told that she was "too rough" with him). I would just be careful as your actions will have an impact on the parents and their view of you, and if part of the problem is then environment/lack of suitable training then claiming but not doing anything to improve the environment is going to send out the wrong message imo.