EXCL Parliament mishap victims awarded tens of thousands in compensation
4 min read
Tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayer cash has been handed out in compensation to victims of slips and trips in Parliament in the past three years, PoliticsHome can reveal.
A cleaner was given more than £18,000 after a ceiling tile fell on her head in 2015, while a visitor at a House of Lords dinner won almost £20,000 after a waiter slipped and splashed them with hot water.
The incidents were listed in a dossier of formally reported mishaps obtained by PoliticsHome under Freedom of Information rules.
It includes a string of electric shocks and trips on uneven flooring, as well as one incident in which a person slipped on a child's vomit.
The revelations come amid fears the crumbling Palace of Westminster is a “death trap” in urgent need of refurbishment.
One staff member was awarded £13,300 in 2016 after he fell off his motorbike in the parliamentary car park - allegedly because the road was dusty. He continued his ride home but later went to A&E.
A cleaner was handed £12,200 in 2016 after they slipped on a contaminated kitchen floor and needed treatment from paramedics for back and elbow injuries.
Meanwhile, compensation claims are pending over one person who fell while carrying work equipment onto a tube train and another who injured their thumb when a fire door closed “unexpectedly”.
Two other incidents involving elderly visitors who tripped while attending parliamentary functions - one of which may have been the result of algae growing on a step - are also under review for compensation.
ACCIDENT DOSSIER
The accidents which ended in payouts are just a fraction of the dozens of mishaps that occured in the Palace of Westminster in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
In 2015 the door of a towel dispenser swung open and smacked a person in the head, while a Commons staff member was stunned by an electric shock when they plugged a phone charger into a socket.
One person the same year hurt their wrist by picking up a tray, while more than one customer suffered burns in parliamentary cafes after spilling porridge on their hands.
Another victim went to A&E after splashing hot soup in their eye, and a cleaner felt pain in their arm after “vacuuming continuously for an unspecified period of time”.
One staff member suffered a “bump” when two boxes of popcorn fell on their head, while another was punctured by a screw sticking out of the cushion of a chair.
In 2016 a fire was almost started after a cigarette butt was thrown into a bin without being fully stubbed out - causing a piece of paper to begin smouldering.
Elsewhere, somebody cut their finger trying to open a bottle of wine with a knife, and a visitor with a motorised scooter “lost control” and ran over the foot of a tour guide.
Later in the year, a contractor had his artery sliced open by a piece of shattered glass, while in 2017 a box of teabags fell on a staff member and scratched their eye.
Elsewhere last year, a peer was tipped out of their wheelchair and fractured their arm as they went up a ramp and caught a sunken drain cover.
And a security officer cut their lip on a plastic coffee cup lid, while an aide to an MP lost their toenail in an unfortunate toilet door incident when they were wearing sandals.
Regular incidents across the three years of accident logs included kitchen knife mishaps, trips over cables and uneven floors, chemicals splashing into people’s eyes and children walking into lamp posts.
'DEATH TRAP'
In January this year, former Cabinet minister Damian Green said the Palace of Westminster was unsafe as MPs debated plans for a massive refurb.
He said: “It might be an exaggeration to say that Parliament is a death trap, but it’s not a wild exaggeration.
“Anyone who has taken that tour of the basement will have seen the full horror of the current arrangements.”
'REDUCE HARM'
A Commons spokesperson told PoliticsHome: “We are committed to protecting the health and safety of those that work on or visit the Parliamentary estate.
"We have in place robust arrangements, including a network of fully trained first aiders, to help prevent accidents and we work to reduce harm wherever possible.
"The number of accidents reported are in line with comparable organisations, and the type and number of accidents are not due to any inherent defects or work practices within the buildings."
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