Newport City Council has been ordered to pay over £160,000 after a disabled man died when he was trapped in a ceiling track hoist installed in his home.
Michael Powell, 53, suffocated when he attempted to hoist himself over his bed, on or around the evening of 20 January 2008, and was unable to call for help.
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Mr Powell lived alone in a bungalow in Newport and had last spoken to his family via telephone that same evening. They became concerned when they were unable to contact him the following day, and his body was discovered by them in the early afternoon.
Mr Powell was paralysed from the chest down following a Speedway accident in the 1970s. He used a wheelchair and Newport City Council had installed ceiling track hoists in his bathroom and bedroom to help him to live independently.
Newport Crown Court heard both hoists were subject to regular maintenance inspections by the Council’s in-house disability equipment providers, Monwel Hankinson.
However, a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the handset control for the ceiling track hoist was on the floor next to his bed, and subsequent tests indicated that it could easily detach and fall off.
HSE also found one of the directional control buttons on the handset was pointing in the wrong direction. The emergency pull cord that would normally lower the user to safety if trapped, was not working due to the corrosion of the battery terminals.
The court heard the hoists had been provided to Mr Powell to use on his own, without the aid of a carer. However, the manufacturer’s guidance indicated the hoist should only be used when a carer was present. He had no alarm or call system to help him in the event of becoming trapped. Once trapped, Mr Powell had no means of summoning assistance.
Newport City Council, of Civic Centre, Newport, Gwent, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. They were fined £100,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £60,108.02 pence.
Following the case, HSE Inspector, Stephen Hanson-Hall said:
“This is a tragic incident. Mr Powell was a very independent person who relied on the equipment provided to him by Newport City Council to further assist that independence.
“Prior to this incident Mr Powell had contacted Newport City Council with concerns about becoming trapped, but the risk of entrapment and lone use went unchecked.
“Despite the best intentions of the council, he was provided with a hoist that was inappropriate for independent living without additional safeguards being put in place. This particular hoist had no means for the user to summon assistance and had been designed for use in the presence of a carer.
“HSE has had the full cooperation of Newport City Council during this investigation, and measures have now been put in place to help prevent any future similar incidents. HSE fully supports the valuable work of Local Authorities in supporting people to live independently in their own homes. Sadly, on this occasion some clear risks that arose from Mr. Powell’s package of support went unidentified until after the incident.”
