Care firm fined for health and safety breaches
Written by John Williamson on 20/06/2018
A care home company has been ordered to pay a fine and costs totalling £168,797 after pleading guilty to health and safety breaches which came to light after the death of an elderly resident.
Calderdean Ltd, registered at Church Street in Blackpool, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, following a lengthy investigation by Lancaster City Council.
The court heard that the council launched an investigation following the death of Mary Sharples, an 85-year-old resident of the Alders Residential Care Home in Morecambe.
She was taken to hospital in August 2014 after falling from a stair lift whilst being escorted to bed and died a few days later.
During the council’s investigation it found that Mrs Sharples had not been strapped into the stair lift at the time of the accident and had been left unattended without a lap belt in place.
Further enquiries also revealed widespread health and safety failings putting residents at risk. Contributing factors included poor management, a lack of safe systems of work, inadequate staffing, poor training, a poor health and safety culture in existence and cost cutting.
Calderdean Ltd, which operated the Alders at the time of the accident but is no longer involved in the operation of any care homes, was ordered to pay a fine of £142,500 and costs of £26,297.76.
Coun Andrew Warriner, Cabinet member with responsibility for health and housing at Lancaster City Council, said: “This conviction and financial penalty should act as a timely reminder and warning to all businesses of the need to take their responsibilities seriously. The investigation found a high level of complacency towards health and safety legislation, which ultimately had tragic consequences.”
