Nursing home fined for elderly man's fatal fall

Date:

15 October 2012

Truro Crown court heard today that an elderly man with dementia was able to wander into another resident's room at his nursing home and fall to his death from a window.

Reginald Gibbings

Reginald Gibbings, 89, fell 3.6 metres from the room at Hillcrest House, Barbican Road, East Looe on 15 July 2008.

Hillcrest House Ltd was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £95,963 in costs in a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). A compensation order of £2,300 towards the family's funeral costs was also made.

The court was told that Mr Gibbings had been admitted to the secure unit for elderly and mentally ill people at Hillcrest House care home, after his wife suffered a stroke at their home in Barbican Court, East Looe.

He did not settle well at the home and repeatedly stated he wanted to leave and tried to get out by forcing the secure garden gate on the day of his fall. On the 15th July 2008, Mr Gibbings entered a bedroom on the ground floor which had a restrictor fitted to prevent the window opening fully. The restrictor was defeated, either by Mr Gibbings or someone else, allowing the window to open fully. Although on a ground floor, the home is built into a banked area and the sloping gardens created a large drop beneath the window.

Mr Gibbings either fell through the window or fell trying to climb out it. He suffered multiple fractures and died in hospital two days later.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector, Sarah Baldwin-Jones, said:

"This tragic incident could have been avoided if Hillcrest had fitted suitable window restrictors. Someone at the home was able to defeat the restrictor and consequently, Mr Gibbings, who was a very vulnerable person, was able to fall from a significant height.

"Hillcrest failed to appreciate this risk, even though they had already purchased new window restrictors for the unit. Their delay in fitting the new, more robust restrictors which could not be defeated, resulted in Mr Gibbings' death. Had the new restrictors been fitted, this incident would likely not have occurred.

"It is essential that nursing homes consider the type of window restrictor fitted to their windows. Homes should consider the robustness of their restrictors and how easy it would be to defeat them. They should conduct a risk assessment and implement immediate measures to ensure vulnerable residents are kept safe. Window restrictors should be regularly inspected and where defects or damage are noted, there should be a system in place for making sure that necessary action is taken".

Hillcrest House Ltd of Barbican Road, East Looe, pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Further information on how to reduce the risk of falls from windows in nursing and care homes can be found at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/healthservices/falls-windows.htm

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to prevent 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
2. Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work 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 risk to their health & safety."

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News and PR (South West)