A prison officer injured while attending a training session has been denied personal injury compensation by a Scottish court.
On 22 September 2010, a female prison officer was struck by a 12 foot long plank of wood during a 'mock riot'.
The training exercise was held at Addiewell Prison in West Lothian and involved some officers pretending to be rioting prisoners while the other officers responded to the situation.
The woman incurred injuries to her shoulder, back and neck after being hit twice by a plank of wood. The second blow caused her visor to be pushed into her face.
Despite numerous injuries, a court dismissed her compensation claim.
In a written judgement, Sheriff Douglas Kinloch said, "While the accident seems to have affected her quite badly, and it is impossible not to feel sympathetic towards her for that, it is not in my view an accident which sounds in law in damages."
The Sheriff went on to state that those involved were permitted to make the exercise as realistic as possible, which meant that training prison officers could be struck by objects.
"The defenders, in my view, did as much as they reasonably could to prevent injury, but it seems to me that it was simply not possible to completely remove all risks of injury", he concluded.
