The town hall say a rebate looms for tenants

Attacks by dogs, bites from humans and motorbike crashes while performing jumps were just some of the litany of injuries suffered by Islington Council employees last year.

A new report issued by the town hall shows there were 387 accidents, incidents or near misses in the 12 months leading up to March 2012 – and 239 of those were violent.

This is up more than 150 on the previous year – almost 75 per cent – but the council say this has more to do with their new online reporting system rather than increased danger in the work place.

On one occasion a member of staff was hospitalised and had to have jabs after an anxious service user bit her and refused to let go, tearing her skin in the process.

In another incident an employee was supervising young people riding motorbikes when they tried to do a jump. They got the landing wrong and came off the bike which then landed on the employee’s ankle.

Another member of staff was headbutted twice in the ribs, causing a probable fracture, by a self-harming service user.

And whilst clamping someone’s wheelchair to a council bus, an employee managed to cut open their eyelid by banging their eyes on part of the chair. In another ocular injury, a member of staff squirted alcohol sanitiser into their own eyes when the nozzle of a dispenser was turned the wrong way round.

Cllr Richard Greening, Islington Council’s executive member for finance and performance, said: “The council takes seriously its responsibility to ensure a safe and healthy environment for residents, staff and visitors.

“Our monitoring highlights areas where the council performs well and also areas for improvement.

“While the Health and Safety Report recognises risks are generally well managed, it also identifies that remedial action is taken to reduce risk following incidents.”

“To make it easier and simpler, the Council introduced on-line reporting and not surprisingly, we’ve seen a minor increase in the number of incidents reported by staff.

“It also shows increased staff awareness and implementation of the council’s health and safety requirements.”