The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) show 11,500 hospital admissions a year after trampoline accidents. Some 80% of the injuries are caused by more than one person bouncing at the same time. The increase is said to be due to a boom in trampoline purchases by parents for their children. However the accidents and injuries are not confined to children. Drunken adults will also “have a go” and cause harm or injury to themselves or to a child or children on the trampoline. Accidents on trampolines at home had increased almost fourfold in the same time, with 4,200 under-15s being hurt in 2002. The growing popularity of the sport also saw injuries rise to 6,700 in places such as sports halls and gymnasia, but at nowhere near the same rate as those at home.
The statistics show that 75% of injuries occur when more than one person is on the trampoline and children under six years old particularly vulnerable to an accidental injury on a trampoline.
Mr Ronnie Hutcheon principal solicitor in the firm of R James Hutcheon Solicitors advisors “that whilst trampolining fun for people of all ages, parents must be fully aware of the risk to their children. It certainly appears that the risk of injury would be significantly reduce to a child if there is no more than one child on the trampoline at a time…It will also reduce the risk of being sued should a child be injured on a trampoline if there several children and or adults on the trampoline at anyone time.”
What to Do following A Child Trampoline Accidental Injury
If a child has suffered injury due to a trampolining accident they must obtain immediate advice from a doctor at hospital or attending their GP. The type medical treatment following a trampoline injury will depend upon the severity of the injury. Sprains and broken limbs or legs, the child should be transported by ambulance or car to a local hospital. Serious child injuries due to an accident, involving the head, neck or spine, the child should not be moved until ambulance has arrived. Once the injuries have been expertly treated by a doctor the next stage is to seek legal advice from a solicitor if the trampoline accident causing injury to a child was caused by someone else due to a lack of supervision by an adult, an accident at school or faulty trampoline.
Settlement of Child Injury Compensation
Once the case is settled and the case in won, the compensation will be payable until the child reaches the age of 18 years which is the age when the law determines that a child can act for himself/herself without the need for a parent or guardian. Up until the time the child who has been injured on the trampoline reaches 18 years of age the child must always act through a parent or guardian. If the child needs money for education, welfare or benefit before reaching 18 years, the child’s trampoline injury solicitors will request from the court a payment out of the compensation fund on account.
The compensation payment to the child following a trampoline accident claim will be invested on the child’s behalf at the Court Funds Office special court bank account which gains interest and is invested on behalf of the child until the child reaches the age of 18 years of age.
It is important once the case has been finalised that the parents and the child keep a note of the court case number and the address of the court. If the family move address they should also remember to let the court know of the new address so that the court will be able to keep track of the family and remind the child when he or she reaches the age of 18 years that the compensation plus interest will be paid so that the final compensation claim for the injured child victim will finally come to an end.
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