Everyone has heard the phrase; accidents happen, right? While it is one that still holds true, what happens when your child is injured during school hours, and more specifically on school property? Is the school or schoolboard liable for his or her injuries? The answer, as I am sure you gave guessed, is a tricky one to answer.
Generally speaking, school boards in Ontario have a legal obligation to ensure the safety of students while on the premises. This duty relates to inter alia; proper supervision, regular maintenance of equipment and ensuring the premises is reasonably safe while having proactive measures in place to prevent foreseeable accidents. The standard of care expected from a school is that of a “careful or prudent parent, which again, generally speaking, means that schools must diligently supervise and protect students. Some considerations include; monitoring the number of students present in one particular area at any given time and assessing whether the activity in question is generally age appropriate.
Under Ontario’s Occupiers’ Liability Act, school boards are required to take reasonable steps to ensure that students are safe while on school premises. This includes, by way of example, completing regular inspections and maintenance of playground equipment to identify and rectify any potential hazards. This is not to say that a school board will be found liable simply if a student is injured on school property during school hours. It is not uncommon for a student to be injured during recess, whether that be while on a piece of playground equipment or in a more standard slip and fall incident. The analysis for liability against the school will remain the same. Was the accident foreseeable? Should the student have been permitted on the playground given the weather? Was the playground area inherently dangerous? Was there inadequate supervision that would have otherwise avoided the accident? These are all important questions to ask that are fact specific.
In short, while schools are responsible for maintaining a safe environment, accidents can happen, even when the appropriate precautions are taken.
Now for the Sandlot fans out there; get outside and get your jeans dirty. Just be careful when you do.
