A grandmother of six was killed instantly after the brakes in a lift she was entering failed and it shot up, an inquest has heard.
A council responsibility, no less…
Mrs Allen's daughter Laura Dawkins, 27, said she had warned Redbridge Council the lifts were faulty and that she had to be rescued by firefighters after getting trapped in a lift in the block in 2006.
She also said she had called the council just a fortnight before her mum died to alert them to a problem with the lift.
And what did they do?
She said: 'I told the council many times that the lift was broken. It just kept breaking down and sometimes one door would open but another would close. Sometimes it was higher in the shaft than it should be.
'It hadn't been working properly for about four months and all I got from the council is that they haven't got the funding.'
Funny. They seem to have
a hugely whizzy website offering all sorts of things. Surely fixing the lifts – given the safety implications – would be higher on their ‘to do’ list?
Dr Anthony Wray, an expert working for the Health and Safety Executive, examined the lift and said the electrical components which release the brake on the lift had become eroded.
He said that the brakes were 'not releasing' properly and the brake pads were 'worn down' so much that the lift was not secure.
…
He told the court that the electrical components which caused the lift to fail were in a sealed unit which would not be checked during a routine inspection.
Well, clearly, given the other problems, a ‘routine inspection’ isn’t what was needed?
After hearing statements and from witnesses in court, the jury recorded a verdict of accidental death and coroner Elizabeth Stearns said the housing estate's lifts 'were coming to the end of their useful life'.
I suppose it’s only a blessing she didn’t say the same of Mrs Allen…
The family said outside court they were furious with the decision - which means a criminal case cannot be pursued against anyone.
Let’s hope a civil case can be. I'm not one for ambulance-chasing, but someone needs to pay for this, and pay dearly. Sadly, it'll be the good old taxpayer...
A Redbridge Council spokesman said at the time: 'Like the residents of Lambourne Court, we were shocked by this tragic death. Our sympathy is with the family.'
You can’t have been
that shocked, surely?
10 comments:
I'd say it was a clear case of H & S NEGLIGENCE. Someone should be accountable.
Council "sympathy" is about as welcome as tits on a bull & about as much use ...
For once I don't think you are completely right.
Clearly Redbridge Council are at fault.
BUT if the residents knew the lift was defective surely they should have exercised personal responsibility and not used it?
Of course the answer to that is that elf and safety has stopped anyone thinking for themselves.
Even if the control components are a sealed unit, brake pads are easily inspected and changed for a modest sum.
If the lifts were in council HQ I bet they would be in tip top condition.
Madam Otis regrets...
Not only is there a braking issue, but the lift's overspeed governor should have activated the emergency stop gear as well, if it ascended out of control.
"I'd say it was a clear case of H & S NEGLIGENCE."
It's truly amazing how they are seemingly able to walk between the raindrops on these potentially massive things, while halting carnivals and removing hanging baskets on the most spurious of reasons...
"...BUT if the residents knew the lift was defective surely they should have exercised personal responsibility and not used it?
I think people - despite these cases - don't regard lifts as the potentially dangerous pieces of machinery they are. Their main worry would have been getting stuck in one, I'm sure.
Never the though of death.
"Even if the control components are a sealed unit, brake pads are easily inspected and changed for a modest sum."
Indeed. I'd have been more inclined to pass it off as an unforeseen accident if the sealed unit had been the ONLY failure. That was clearly not the case.
As RantinRab points out, bet the council staff's own lifts are on a completely different contract!
"Madam Otis regrets..."
Heh!
"...the lift's overspeed governor should have activated the emergency stop gear as well, if it ascended out of control."
It does seem as in numerous failsafes, well, failed....
after the brakes in a lift she was entering failed and it shot up,
Up???
Is that them, you, or me that has misunderstood the usage of lift BRAKES?
Fups.
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