New York School Accidents

School is a place of both academic and social learning for children. Most children, usually those ages 4 through 18 spend a good portion of their time on school property for both normal school hours and extracurricular activities, such as sports or further academic education.

From an early age, children are often taught that school is safe haven for them. Many programs encourage children to seek a school or school official if they feel threatened or unsafe. For the most part, schools are safe places for children. However, accidents and injuries may still occur on school property.

When leaving children in the hands of school officials and workers such as coaches, teachers, principals, and even bus drivers, parents have to trust that these adults will make smart choices to keep their children safe. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control, statistics have shown that accidents may still happen at an alarming rate. Approximately four million students suffer injuries that require medical treatment, some of which are at least temporarily disabling. Some estimate that approximately one quarter of all childhood injuries occur while on school property.

More tragically, approximately 30 children die each year due to bus related accidents with approximately 4,500 more children being injured. Sadly, many of these injuries occur not while riding the bus, but by walking near or getting on the bus.

Despite numerous safety measures put in place by school boards, there are a few common ways that school related accidents do still occur.

School bus related accidents have been the subject of many safety studies. Despite the ever increasing emphasis on safety in the design of motor vehicles, school bus injuries still account for a large amount of school related injuries and deaths.

Many schools employ traffic and crossing guards to help ensure that children are not hit by a school bus while walking or trying to board. Also, many schools require teachers and principals to be present and assist younger children with this process.

Despite these measures, one NHTSA study shows that school aged student pedestrians are greatly at risk for injury during times that school buses are being loaded. The CDC recommends that schools use properly trained crossing and traffic guards as well as to keep school bus loading areas away from general traffic.

As one might expect, many school related injuries are related to school sports. In fact,sports related injuries account for more than half of all non-fatal school related accidents. According to the CDC, there are approximately one million serious school sports related injuries reported each year as occurring to students between the ages of 10 and 17.

For both male and female student athletes, the vast majority of school sports related injuries occur not during games, but during practice. Male students who participate in football, basketball, baseball, and wrestling are twice as likely to experience a school related injury. For female students, gymnastics, track and field, and basketball appear to be the sports that cause the majority of school related injuries.

Similar injuries may also occur in physical education classes, but the instances are much less frequent.

For many elementary aged children, playground and recess related injuries may be common. Though many injuries may be mild, others may require more medical attention.

Most of these playground accident injuries result from the children falling, either from playground equipment or onto the equipment.

Over the past few years, many strides have been made in replacing dangerous playground equipment with more safe equipment. These changes can come in designing the equipment with safer surfaces, adjusting the height of the equipment, and placing playground equipment away from traffic.

Also, teachers and other school faculty and staff are now placed with more responsibility in regards to student supervision during recess and playground use. Many times, negligence on the part of the responsible adults can lead to a much more serious accident. This increased responsibility means that school faculty or staff may be able to get the child to safety before the situation escalates to requiring serious medical attention.

Accidents sometimes occur in the classroom. Typically in high school, students have the option to take more vocational classes, such as wood working. Though many safety measures are in place in these classes, accidents and injuries may still occur due to the use of dangerous machinery and objects. To prevent this, most classes will often spend many weeks, or even months, making sure the students are fully aware of safety measures and protocols.

Other injuries may result from an improperly maintained school facility. Faulty lighting and fires result in many injuries each year, injuries that could be prevented by properly checking and maintaining electrical wiring and structures of the building.

The types of injuries that students may sustain from work related injuries can vary greatly. Some possibly injuries include:

• Bruises
• Sprained, fractured, or broken bones
• Cuts, scrapes, and lesions
• Burns of varying degrees
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
• Amputation of digits or limbs

Though most children are never seriously injured due to a school related accident, the safety of children should be of the highest priority. Safety programs are constantly being put into place and expanded to help ensure the safety of school age children, but negligence still often leads to someone getting hurt.

If your child or a loved one has been injured due to a school related accident, contact the New York personal injury lawyers at the law offices of David Resnick & Associates, P.C.

We serve accident victims in the metropolitan New York area and beyond.

Call us today at (212) 279-2000 or fill out our convenient online contact form.

These Hubs are provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. Professional legal counsel should be sought for specific advice relevant to your circumstances.