Liverpool nursing home fined £18k after 81-year-old woman falls from sling

Date:

17 January 2011

Release No:

HSE/NW/35CatholicBlindInstitute

A Liverpool nursing home has been fined £18,000 after an 81-year-old woman fell to the ground while being lifted out of bed.

Frances Shannon fell three feet and suffered a broken shoulder as well as injuries to her back and elbow. The wife, mother of two and grandmother of one died in the Royal Liverpool University Hospital the following day.

Frances Shannon

The Catholic Blind Institute, which runs the Christopher Grange nursing home, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to carry out regular checks of the lifting sling being used. It pleaded guilty to the offence and was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on 17 January 2011.

The court heard that Mrs Shannon was being moved from her bed to a wheelchair at the Christopher Grange Nursing Home, on Youens Way in Knotty Ash, on 4 December 2008 when the sling failed.

Julie Lloyd-Shannon, Mrs Shannon's daughter, said:

"Since my mum was so tragically taken from me some seventeen months ago, a day has not passed without thinking of her. I miss her so much.

"My last vision of my mum was seeing her connected to bleeping, flashing machines, and her being in so much pain. I could not even hold her and try to comfort her.

"Every time I think of the events of that day, I still have floods of tears thinking what my mum went though, how scared she must really have been, and how she must have died in pain without me holding her."

Sarah Wadham, the investigating inspector at HSE, said:

"Mrs Shannon's fall would have been prevented if the Catholic Blind Institute had complied with the law for using equipment to lift people.

"There should have been regular checks of the sling and it should have been thoroughly examined at least once every six months. Sadly this did not happen.

"I would urge care providers, including NHS trusts, primary care trusts and care homes, to ensure that they carry out the necessary examinations and inspections of lifting equipment, to prevent similar tragic incidents in the future."

The Catholic Blind Institute was charged with breaching Regulation 9(3) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. It was ordered to pay £13,876 towards the cost of the prosecution in addition to the fine.

More information on using lifting equipment safely is available at www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery.

Notes to editors

1. Regulation 9(3) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 states: "Every employer shall ensure that lifting equipment which is exposed to conditions causing deterioration which is liable to result in dangerous situations is thoroughly examined in the case of lifting equipment for lifting persons or an accessory for lifting, at least every 6 months...and if appropriate for the purpose, is inspected by a competent person at suitable intervals between thorough examinations, to ensure that health and safety conditions are maintained and that any deterioration can be detected and remedied in good time."
2. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has published new guidance on inspecting the type of sling involved in Frances Shannon's death. It is available at www.mhra.gov.uk/publications/safetywarnings
3. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk

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