News Distribution Service for Government and the Public Sector
Extract:
"The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is reminding hospitals and other care providers to ensure the safety of their patients, especially from the dangers of open windows.
The warning follows the prosecution by HSE of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust after an incident at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, when a young man was severely injured after falling from a third floor window.
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (formerly Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust) was fined £18,000 plus costs of £15,399.05 at Sheffield Magistrates' Court today, after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
On 28 May 2004 the young man, a patient on Ward Firth 6 at the Northern General Hospital, was found to have fallen almost 12 metres to the ground from a window that had been fitted with a device intended to limit its opening to no more than 10cm which, because it was poorly maintained, did not restrict the window adequately. The patient survived the fall but suffered a number of fractures and serious internal injuries."
It took a very long time to get to court, didn't it? - Over four and a half years! - Why?
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