By Alesha Capone
TEACHERS at Brimbank schools have filed 47 WorkSafe claims during the past 12 months, with a fifth stating mental stress as the reason.
Figures released to Star showed 21 per cent of the teachers working at primary and secondary schools in the municipality stated “high exposure to mental stress” as the reason for their claim.
In addition, 28 per cent of the teachers from Brimbank who made claims from November 2009 to October 31 this year, did so as a result of falls, trips and slips which occurred while they were working.
WorkSafe spokesman Michael Birt said 19 per cent of the teachers filed claims for “being hit by a moving object” and 25 per cent for “body stressing” injuries.
This category refers to damage caused from manual handling of objects and sports injuries, caused by actions including lifting, carrying, pushing and pulling.
Mr Birt said out of the 47 teachers at Brimbank schools, 21 were away from work for more than two weeks or required treatment or medical attention costing more than $580.
But he said most of the teachers returned to work “very quickly” after making the WorkSafe claims.
“I suppose the big thing out of all these sorts of things is that most people get back to work very quickly and don’t need any time off,” Mr Birt said.
“We do encourage people and schools to help staff to go back to work as soon as they can in a safe way and stay connected to the school community.”
The Department of Education said they could not say how many teachers resigned or were fired from schools in the West, as they did not collate statistics this way.
During August, Star reported 27 students had been expelled from government schools across the West in the first five months of the year.
In February this year, Brimbank College considered suspending 21 students accused of cyber bullying a former teacher.
