A Bedfordshire care home faces prosecution this week over health and safety failures that led to the death of a 100-year-old resident.
\n\nWhat happened
\n\nMeppershall Care Home was shut down by the Care Quality Commission in July 2013 after inspectors took urgent action to protect residents’ welfare and safety. Concerns about the Shefford Road home first surfaced after Mrs May Ward died in August 2010.
\n\n\n\n\n\nAn inquest heard staff had put Mrs Ward into a sling without attaching the correct straps to her legs. The carers involved had not been trained to use the equipment.
The charges
\n\nThe company that ran the home, GA Projects Limited of Stevenage, faces two charges brought by the Health and Safety Executive. Both will be heard at Bedford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 11 December.
\n\nThe first charge: that on or before 27 August 2010, GA Projects failed to ensure — as far as reasonably practicable — that residents including May Ward were not exposed to the risk of falling or being dropped during hoist transfers.
\n\nThe second charge: that the company failed in its duty to protect employees’ health, safety and welfare when transferring residents using a hoist, exposing staff to risk of injury including back injuries.
\n\n\n⚠️ Important: Director Mohammed Haniffa Zarook, 71, of Harpenden, is personally charged in connection with the offences. Company directors can face individual prosecution when health and safety failures occur under their watch.
Mr Zarook is charged with being a director of GA Projects at the time the alleged offences took place.
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