Judgments - Court: Parents' council insured against accidents during sawing work
A volunteer member of the parents' council of a municipal kindergarten is insured against accidents when cutting tree slices for the kindergarten's Christmas bazaar, even if the sawing work takes place on his private property. This was decided by the 2nd Senate of the Federal Social Court (BSG) in Kassel on Tuesday (case reference B 2 U 10/21 R).
According to the BSG, in 2017, the plaintiff, as a member of the parents' council, was supposed to cut tree slices for the annual Christmas market of the municipal kindergarten, which were to be sold at a bazaar. During the work on the man's private property, his left hand got caught in the circular saw. He lost his middle and ring fingers.
Unlike the defendant, the Thuringia Accident Insurance Fund, the Gotha Social Court and the Thuringia Regional Social Court as the lower courts, the BSG now recognized the event as an accident at work. The 2nd Senate justified its decision by stating that, at the time of the accident, the plaintiff was working on a voluntary basis as a member of the parents' council within the statutory scope of duties of the municipality as the responsible body for the kindergarten and the parents' council. The kindergarten and parents' council had also specifically assigned the sawing work to him. The lack of opportunities to intervene on the plaintiff's private property was irrelevant in this respect. "The insurance cover extends to voluntary work 'for' the institution without any temporal or spatial limitation", explained the BSG.
BSG press release
Read also:
- Will he be convicted as Jutta's murderer after 37 years?
- He also wanted to kill his cousin
- With live stream! Gawkers film dying man
- Is Saarland threatened with economic collapse?
- In Germany, insurance coverage for accidents during volunteering extends to private properties, as exemplified by a case in Cassel involving a parent council member from Thuringia who lost fingers while cutting tree slices for a kindergarten's Christmas bazaar.
- Hesse's Federal Social Court (BSG) ruled that the accident during sawing work, which occurred on the member's private property, was indeed an occupation-related incident due to their role in the parents' council for the kindergarten.
- Insuring against work-related accidents is a common practice in Germany, and this principle was applied in the case of the Hesse-based municipal kindergarten and parents' council, where the plaintiff was providing voluntary services beyond the normal kindergarten hours.
- Private property ownership does not exempt individuals from injury protection while performing duties as part of an organization, such as the parents' council, in relation to German institutions like municipal kindergartens.
Source: www.stern.de
