Health and Safety Failings – Care home in court after death of resident

Care home in court after death of resident

Key Facts:

• A 100-year-old resident suffered a fatal fall whilst being moved by care home staff.
• Several safety failings were identified including a lack of risk management, lack of training, and a history of improvement notices.
• The company and its director were both prosecuted, being ordered to pay over £335,000 in fines and costs.

The Case:

An investigation was launched after a 100-year-old care home resident died as a result of injuries she sustained in a fall from a hoist.

The resident was being moved from a chair to her bed by carers on 28 August 2010 when she fell. She suffered multiple fractures, including her skull hip and knee and died the following day as a result of her injuries.

The resulting HSE investigation concluded that there had been several key safety failings and that her death could have been prevented had better systems for handling and moving residents been in place.

The two carers who moved her were using a complicated sling but had been given no training in how to use the sling safely. The sling used was not the one that had been recommended for the resident. Therefore, she was not safely position in the sling when she moved herself forward, causing her to fall to the floor.

The care home had a history of serious safety breaches having previously been served five improvement notices in 2010 for resident handling, risk assessment, risks to residents and a lack of competent health and safety advice. In fact, this was not the first incident of this kind at the home; another resident had suffered a similar fall in 2009 resulting in fractures to her tibia and fibula. The incident had not been reported to the HSE.

There was no evidence of the director fulfilling his health and safety obligations through training or risk management.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) had inspected the home on several occasions with the resulted ratings being either ‘adequate’ or ‘poor’. The care home was closed by the CQC in July 2013 as the result of a further inspection.

The case was heard at Luton Crown Court on 27 March 2015, where the care home owners and director were both prosecuted. The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974. As a result they were fined £50,000 and costs of £36,992.24. The care home director pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was fined £150,000 and costs of £100,000.

What the HSE inspector had to say:

Speaking after the hearing the HSE Inspector Emma Page stated that:

“Mrs Ward’s death was a wholly preventable tragedy caused by unacceptable management failings on the part of GA Projects Ltd and Mr Zarook. They put vulnerable residents at the care home at unnecessary risk.

Working in a care home is a specialised job, which involves dealing with vulnerable people. Care homes must ensure that they have the correct training in place for all their employees, and that they work to adequately assess and mitigate all possible risks, so far as is reasonably practicable.

Moving and handling is a particularly important issue in the healthcare sector and every year vulnerable people suffer injuries caused by poor moving and handling practice.”

What the law states:

Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states:

It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.

Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states:

Where an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Further information on moving and handling in the health and social care sector can be found here.

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