A SCOTTISH teacher received more than £3,000 in compensation after being hit in the face with a musical instrument.

The incident was revealed as part of an annual report highlighting compensation payments to school staff following violent incidents or accidents at work.

Overall some £180,000 was paid out to Scottish teachers and lecturers in 2013/14, but the figure is dramatically down on the previous year when the total topped £300,000.

The highest payment of £50,000 was awarded to a teacher who suffered severe injuries after falling and hitting their head on ice in the school playground.

Larry Flanagan, EIS general secretary, welcomed the decline, but warned that part of the decrease was down to tougher restrictions on claims.

He said: "The reduction is positive because it highlights the fact there have been fewer very serious injuries to teachers and lecturers at work over the past year.

"The main goal must always be to avoid accidents and prevent injuries to education staff, but whenever an EIS member is injured in the course of their work, we will continue to do all that we can to achieve a fair settlement on their behalf."

Mr Flanagan went on to attack the practices of many insurance companies who refuse to pay out until the last minute.

He said: "The total compensation bill would decline dramatically if insurance companies admitted liability earlier, thereby avoiding the accrual of unnecessary medical and legal bills."

While some of the most serious cases involve assaults on teaching staff, the compensation settlements published by the EIS reveal that the most frequent cause of injury to teachers and lecturers continues to be accidents involving falls caused by slips and trips.

Mr Flanagan said: "Such accidents are completely avoidable if employers implement basic, inexpensive safety requirements.

"Compensation payments are made because by some employers continue to fail to protect their staff from avoidable workplace injuries. These can often be avoided by effective risk assessment and correct adherence to simple health and safety procedures."

Douglas Chapman, education spokesman for Cosla, said: "It is important to emphasise that teaching is a very safe profession, and local authorities take extremely serious the safety and wellbeing of all staff and pupils.

"There are over 50,000 teachers and over 700,000 pupils in school and pre-school so accidents or incidents will occasionally take place.

"Serious incidents are rare, but parents and teachers should be assured that authorities and schools have in place policies to deal with situations that may arise."

A Scottish Government spokesman added: "Every pupil and teacher should feel safe from harm at school and in their community. Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to maintain their schools to a safe and sufficient standard and make it clear that violence of any sort is unacceptable."

Compensation claims are down partly has a result of Coalition Government changes made in 2012 to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.

The changes now restrict compensation to those who suffer serious injuries.

Personal injury claims are also down partly as a result of Section 69 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act introduced by the Coalition Government in October 2013.

Under the new provisions, employers are no longer liable in the civil courts for the criminal offence of a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) regulations.

As a result, workers who are injured as a consequence of an employer's breach of a statutory duty within HSWA regulations are prevented from enforcing that breach. In every case, rather than be able to rely on the breach of the regulations, the worker have to prove the employer was negligent.