Company fined £90,000 after Hawarden care home manager suffered life-changing injuries in lift shaft fall

A company has been fined £90,000 after the manager of a Hawarden care home it owns was seriously injured after falling down a lift shaft.

Flintshire County Council’s Environmental Health team led a successful crown court prosecution against Pearlcare Wellfield Limited care home in Hawarden.

The company was found guilty on five counts of health and safety breaches after their manager fell down a lift shaft in July 2018, three days after she had started her new job.

The manager suffered life-changing injuries and was lucky to have survived and the company was fined £90,000 with £85,000 costs.

The investigation showed that there was no risk assessment or safe systems for use of the lift.

Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Public Protection, Councillor Christopher Bithell, said:

“This is a tragic case where an employee was very seriously injured and could have died as a result of their employer’s negligence.  This prosecution sends a clear message about how seriously Flintshire County Council takes these matters.”

The Judge, in sentencing, said that level of harm was the highest possible – death and that this case places high standards on compliance with health and safety where employees and others are exposed to foreseeable risk.

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