Companies fined for care home death
TWO companies have been sentenced for safety failings following the death of an elderly resident at a care home in Manchester.
Irene Sharples, 92, was living at Alexian Brothers Care Centre on St Mary’s Road in Moston when a heavy fire door fell on her during renovation work.
She died just under four weeks later as a result of her injuries.
Healthcare Management Trust, which runs the home, and construction firm Rothwell Robinson were both prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found Mrs Sharples, who suffered from dementia, had been able to wander into a building site at the home.
Manchester Crown Court heard the Healthcare Management had hired Rothwell Robinson Ltd to convert a ground floor bedroom and en-suite into two toilets and a store room.
The company began the work on 2 November 2010 and several tradesmen, including two joiners and a plumber, visited the site over the following days.
At around 7.30am on November 7, staff heard a loud thud and a cry for help. When they went to investigate, they found Mrs Sharples on the floor underneath the fire door.
It took three people to lift the door off her and she suffered a broken hip. Mrs Sharples spent eight days in hospital but her condition deteriorated when she returned to the care home and she died on December 2.
The HSE investigation found the healthcare firm and building company had both failed to make sure the room was locked at the end of each day and also when it was left unoccupied.
Healthcare Management Trust, of Queen Anne’s Gate in London, was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £7,500 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Rothwell Robinson, of Holyoake Road in Worsley, was fined £10,000 with costs of £7,500 after pleading guilty to the same offence.
HSE Inspector Laura Moran said: “Both firms clearly knew there were vulnerable residents living at the care home but they still allowed the door to what was essentially a building site to be left unlocked on numerous occasions.”
