Derbyshire police employee received £30,000 in damages after tripping at work

Derbyshire Constabulary has paid out almost £150,000 after employees suffered injuries while at work.

A Freedom of Information request by this newspaper to Derbyshire Constabulary has revealed the force has paid out £80,726 in damages and £69,200 in costs to 13 employees between 2012 and 2015.

One staff member received £30,000 in damages for a trip incident in 2012.

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Deputy Chief Constable Gary Knighton said: “Policing can be a high risk occupation and there are instances where, either in the line of duty or occasionally in training exercises, staff are injured.

“On occasions they are entitled to compensation and we also seek to learn lessons that prevent future incidents.

“It is, therefore, notable that the force has overseen a reduction in workplace injuries by almost 50 per cent since 2004.”

The data shows there have been five payouts for training incidents, two for manual handling and one for a slip, trip, fall, laceration, struck by object and needlestick injury to seven police officers and six members of staff.

There have been no payouts since 2015.

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In 2012, a needlestick injury resulted in damages of £2,240 and costs of £3,000 and there was also a payout of £30,000 for a trip incident.

In 2013, there was a payout in damages of £3,000 for a laceration and £6,500 for a training incident.

In 2014, there was a payout of £7,960.46 for damages and costs for a staff member who was struck by an object.

In 2015, there was a payout of £5,000 for a staff member for a manual handling incident.

Mr Knighton added: “As a responsible employer, we take the health and wellbeing of our employees seriously and fully acknowledge our duty of care.”

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