A high school teacher in Arizona was in a hospital recovering from a 20-foot fall two weeks ago. The injuries sustained in the school's gymnasium, a fractured leg and broken jaw, required two surgeries. Recovery will require rehabilitation, but according to the district superintendent, most of her expenses should be covered by workers' compensation because it occurred in the workplace.

The teacher involved in the accident currently teaches physical education and health, and she was previously the girl's basketball coach. According to the district superintendent, she was using a lift to reconnect a speaker on the gym ceiling. On the way down, the lift became unstable and the teacher fell.

To avoid such situations, the lift is usually put away in a closet. However, on this occasion, the primary maintenance worker took out the lift in order to do the work after lunch. While the worker was away, the teacher decided to go ahead and reconnect the speaker herself.

Also, the lift's battery is usually removed to prevent those who are untrained from operating the machine. In this occasion, however, the battery was in because of anticipated use. The district superintendent did not place blame, but instead said that it was a bad situation. In the future, the closet containing the lift will be locked and a sign will be placed on the lift to avoid further accidents.

According to him, only two people in the school were trained to use the lift: the maintenance personnel and one former teacher.

The injured teacher's jaw is wired shut, so she is using communicating via text messages. She is eager to return to work and see her students.

Source: Arizona Range News, "WHS teacher seriously injured in fall," Ainslee S. Wittig, Dec. 7, 2011