A GALASHIELS janitor who was injured after she slipped on Vaseline on stairs at a school with a history of sixth-form pupils playing pranks has lost a bid to win damages.
Linda Gillie sued Scottish Borders Council for compensation following her fall at Galashiels Academy on May 12 in 2009, claiming that the accident happened because of its breach of workplace health and safety regulations.
At the Court of Session in Edinburgh, judge Lord Boyd of Duncansby said in the years before Mrs Gillie’s accident there was evidence of a variety of pranks being carried out at the school.
These included the throwing of foodstuffs – including eggs, spaghetti sauce, yogurt and flour – at the outside windows, putting washing-up liquid down toilets, placing cellophane on toilet seats and smearing black shoe polish on toilet seats, throwing water balloons, using supersoakers, moving lockers against doorways so that people could not get out, putting sardines and dirty nappies in lockers, placing fish in the library and setting off the fire alarm.
Mrs Gillie, 54, of Beech Avenue, was taken to hospital with injuries after the incident and was unable to resume her full duties until more than a year later. She underwent treatment for a thigh injury.
She raised an action at the court for £50,000, but damages were agreed at £16,000 with liability contested.
The judge ruled that it was “not reasonably practicable” for the local authority to ensure that the stair was kept free from the substance that Mrs Gillie slipped on.
Lord Boyd said: “I am satisfied that the placing or dropping of Vaseline on the stairs risks serious injury. However, in my opinion, the foreseeability of such an event occurring, as opposed to any other ‘prank’ that day, viewed from immediately before the event was very low indeed.”
He said against that the time and resources required to eliminate that risk over and above measures already taken was “disproportionate to the risk”.
Lord Boyd went on: “There is a long history, some may say tradition, of sixth-form pupils playing pranks on their last day in school. The court heard evidence that this affected schools in the area of the defenders, including Galashiels Academy. The day is known as ‘prank day’ or ‘muck-up day’. In Galashiels Academy it took place on the last day in which the sixth-form students were in school before they went on study leave.”
A theme-park trip had been arranged for the sixth formers’ final day on May 13, partly as a reward for good behaviour, and their last day in the school was May 12.
The janitor’s attention was drawn to Vaseline on a banister and she started to wipe it, but her foot slipped and she fell several steps before hitting a wall.
The judge said: “I think it is probable that there continued to be some pranks played, but they were far less serious or frequent than in previous years. The problem had been addressed, but I am not convinced that it had entirely gone away.”
The school had identified the problem with prank day and taken measures to address the issue, he said, adding: “While it is true that the trip may have displaced the prank day into the day before, the incidence of pranks had declined to such an extent that the head teacher was not aware of any occurring between 2006 and 2009.”