£7,000 for attack by offender

Feb 16 2008 by Neil McKay, The Journal

A COUNTY Durham social worker has accepted thousands of pounds in compensation after a young offender sprayed Mr Muscle oven cleaner in her face.

Rudi Meszaros, 33, was working at the Cambridge House residential home for young offenders in Newport, South Wales, when the boy attacked her with the oven cleaner.

She was temporarily blinded and suffered chemical damage to her eyes.

Miss Meszaros, of Horden, Peterlee, said oven cleaner and other chemicals were not locked away at the home, despite there having been a previous incident.

She said: “Although members of staff, including myself, expressed concern about the easy access to cleaning products, no safe system for storing them was put in place.

“Several risk assessments prior to the incident also showed that the young man who attacked me should not have been kept in this home as he was a danger both to staff and other residents.”

Miss Meszaros suffered anxiety after the attack and left Cambridge House.

She now works with young people with learning disabilities in the North East.

Newport City Council will pay Miss Meszaros £7,000 compensation in an out-of-court settlement.

Diane Davison of Thompsons Solicitors in Middlesbrough, who represented Miss Meszaros, said: “This incident was very distressing for Miss Meszaros who suffered psychological injuries and very serious injuries to her eyes.

“The council had full knowledge of the risk of an occurrence yet failed to take simple steps to protect their staff from serious injury.”

A Newport City Council spokesman said there were safeguards in place to prevent incidents such as this one, in August 2004, from happening.

He said: “Although the council cannot comment on individual cases there are safeguards built into policy and practice which should, when followed, prevent incidents such as this occurring...

“Health and safety issues are taken very seriously. All hazardous cleaning substances are kept in a locked cupboard to which only staff hold the keys.”