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Court: Parents' council insured against accidents during sawing work

A volunteer member of the parents' council of a municipal kindergarten is covered by accident insurance 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...

A figure of the blind Justitia. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de
A figure of the blind Justitia. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de

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

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Source: www.stern.de

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