Montracon Limited fined over worker's tragic death

Personal Injury Yorkshire

A FACTORY in East Yorkshire has been fined £100,000 over an accident in which 59-year-old worker was killed.

Refrigerated trailer builder Montracon Limited, of Market Weighton, failed to prevent the collapse of a two-to-three-ton steel vacuum lifter which fell on to the head of father and grandfather Ronald Wood, 59.

A judge at Hull Crown Court described the tragedy, which happened in September 2009, as “an accident waiting to happen.”

“This is a tragic case,” said Judge James Sampson. “The sympathy of the court goes out to Mr Wood’s family. The penalty open to the court is wholly insufficient to reflect their loss.”

The court heard that in the weeks leading up to the accident, the vacuum lifter – called a spider – had been hit repeatedly, possibly five times, and fell off its storage bracket after being struck again by a moving refrigeration trailer – one of 53 being built for a supermarket chain.

Mr Wood had worked at the factory, which has a sister factory at Wilberfoss, near York, since November 2008.

He was directly under the spider looking in to a parts bin in the finishing area when the accident happened.

Montracon pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to discharge its duty under the 1974 Health and Safety Act.

Prosecuting barrister Katherine Blackwell, for the Health and Safety Executive, said Mr Wood was described by his employers as a “valued employee who was well-liked and respected by all.”

She said the HSE had prosecuted after finding the firm did not have procedures for reporting near misses and no training was given to employers guiding trailers.

Defence barrister Frank O’Donougue, QC, denied the accident was the result of cost cutting and said the lack of proper risk assessment was because the firm had lost its health and safety workers in the recession.

He said Mr Wood’s family had received a civil settlement plus a £30,000 death in service benefit.

source: yorkpress.co.uk

Sleeping pills 'linked to increased death risk'

Sleeping pills used by thousands of people in the UK appear to be linked with a higher death risk, doctors warn.

The American study in BMJ Open compared more than 10,000 patients on tablets like temazepam with 23,000 similar patients not taking these drugs.

Death risk among users was about four times higher, although the absolute risk was still relatively low.

Experts say while the findings highlight a potential risk, proof of harm is still lacking.

They say patients should not be alarmed nor stop their medication, but if they are concerned they should discuss this with their doctor or pharmacist.

UK guidelines for NHS staff say hypnotic drugs should only be used for short periods of time because of tolerance to the drug and the risk of dependency. But they make no mention of an associated death risk, despite other studies having already reported this potential risk.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said it would consider the results of this latest study and whether it has any implications for current prescribing guidance.

Millions prescribed

In 2010 in England, there were 2.8 million prescriptions dispensed for temazepam and almost 5.3 million for another common sleeping pill called zopiclone.

There were also more than 725,000 prescriptions dispensed for zolpidem and more than 9,400 for zaleplon, two other drugs in this same family.

The latest study looked at a wide range of sleeping pills, including drugs used in the UK, such as benzodiazepines (temazepam and diazepam), non-benzodiazepines (zolpidem, zopiclone and zaleplon), barbiturates and sedative antihistamines.

The investigators, from the Jackson Hole Centre for Preventive Medicine in Wyoming and the Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Centre in California, found that people prescribed these pills were 4.6 times more likely to die during a 2.5-year period compared to those not on the drugs.

Overall, one in every 16 patients in the sleeping pill group died (638 out of 10,531 in total) compared to one in every 80 of the non-users (295 deaths out of 23,674 patients).

This increased risk was irrespective of other underlying health conditions, such as heart and lung diseases, and other factors like smoking and alcohol use, which the researchers say they did their best to rule out.

The researchers say it is not yet clear why people taking sleeping tablets may be at greater risk.

The drugs are sedating and this may make users more prone to falls and other accidents. The tablets can also alter a person's breathing pattern as they sleep and they have been linked to increased suicide risk.

'Meagre benefits'

In this latest study, those taking the highest doses of sleeping tablets also appeared to be at greater risk of developing cancer.

The researchers say: "The meagre benefits of hypnotics, as critically reviewed by groups without financial interest, would not justify substantial risks."

They say even short-term use may not be justifiable.

But Malcolm Lader, professor of clinical psychopharmacology at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, said people should not panic as a result of the findings.

"The study needs to be replicated in a different sample and I think we need to hold judgement until we have further studies.

"What we don't want is people stopping sleeping tablets and then going through a very disturbing period of insomnia.

"People should discuss this with their GP but should not under any circumstances stop taking their medication."

Nina Barnett, of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said: "This is an important study and although it is unlikely to radically change prescribing in the immediate term, it should raise awareness and remind both patients and prescribers to the potential risks of sedative use for insomnia.

"The association between mortality and sedation is not new and this research tells us that people who took these medicines were more likely to die than people who didn't take them.

"However it does not mean that the deaths were caused by the medicine."

A spokesman for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said the safety of medicines was closely monitored and continued even after regulatory approval.

source: bbc.co.uk

MHRA: Metal hip implant patients need life-long checks

The government's health regulator has advised that patients who have undergone large head metal-on-metal hip replacements should be monitored annually for life.

The new advice comes as a joint BBC Newsnight and British Medical Journal investigation reports that problems with such devices have been long known, but no action taken to block their use.

All-metal hips have a high failure rate and rubbing between the ball and cup can cause metal to break off, seeping into tissue and causing complications.

But despite the fact that these risks have been known and well documented for decades, patients have been kept in the dark.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

We are seeing patients with 10, 20, 50 times normal levels. I think our highest level is nearly 300”

Tony NargolConsultant surgeon at the University Hospital of North Tees

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said on Tuesday that around 49,000 UK patients with large-head hip implants out of 65,000 with all-metal hips were in a high-risk category.

The regulator said that they should have blood tests to check for metal ions, and magnetic resonance imaging scans (MRI) if they have raised metal levels or show adverse symptoms.

Concerns are centred on all-metal hips made of cobalt and chromium. As the parts of the joint rub together and wear, metal debris is generated.

Potentially toxic metals from this debris can cause inflammation, destroying muscle and bone, and enter the bloodstream.

Tony Nargol, a consultant surgeon at the University Hospital of North Tees told Newsnight/BMJ "we are seeing patients with 10, 20, 50 times normal levels. I think our highest level is nearly 300".

Device recalled

One all-metal hip device, manufactured by DePuy, a subsidiary of global health giant Johnson & Johnson, called the ASR was recalled in 2010.

And the company, which is facing legal action from ASR patients, has set aside $3bn in case they have to pay compensation.

But Mr Nargol's research suggests there are also problems with another all-metal hip, made by DePuy, called the Pinnacle, which is still on sale.

His hospital tested the nearly 1,000 patients who had been fitted with the all-metal Pinnacle there.

"The trust has brought back all the patients with Pinnacle cups - nearly 1,000 - tested them all, screened them, scanned them, and we know exactly what's happening," he said. "And we found out that of about 970 patients, 75 failures related to metal debris, which is really quite high."

DePuy told Newsnight and the BMJ that patient safety is their top priority and that clinical data showed that the Pinnacle was safe.

Design change

The Newsnight/BMJ investigation has also found that in a bid to prevent dislocation and increase movement DePuy, like other manufacturers, altered its design of the Pinnacle, making the "head" larger and part of the "stem" shorter.

However, this was done without trials being conducted to demonstrate safety and effectiveness or post-marketing studies to detect any long-term problems and the MHRA was unaware that the design had been changed.

Experts say it is likely that these design changes are responsible for the release of high levels of toxic metals into the body, yet regulators in the US and Europe failed to spot the changes, and despite concerns being raised, failed to warn doctors and patients of the potential dangers.

Dr Nargol said he first told DePuy about damaged tissue in metal-on-metal Pinnacle patients in 2008.

And e-mails, seen by Newsnight/BMJ, show that Japanese surgeons warned DePuy in 2009 that metal debris from the Pinnacle was harming patients.

In 2010, a senior DePuy executive said in an internal document that he was "concerned" about problems with the metal-on-metal Pinnacle and similar implants. "I feel the problem is emerging as more serious than first thought," he wrote.

The Newsnight/BMJ investigation shows that in the face of mounting evidence of risk from metal-on-metal hips manufacturers remained silent and regulators failed to act.

Internal company documents, seen by Newsnight/BMJ, show that as early as 2005 DePuy was aware of the damage that could be done to patients by metal-on metal-implants.

This included the possibility that they might increase the chances of patients getting some types of cancer:

"In addition to inducing potential changes in immune function, there has been concern for some time that wear debris may be carcinogenic," one memo said.

Regulatory failure

"This isn't the unlucky failure to spot the misdemeanours of one rogue company or the occasional unforeseen breakdown of a small number of devices," BMJ investigations editor Deborah Cohen, who has been working with Newsnight, said of the findings. "It is the inability to prevent a whole class of failing hip implant from being used in hundreds of thousands of people globally."

Carl Heneghan, Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine in Oxford, says that the fundamental problem is that artificial hips, breast implants, and other devices which are implanted in patients do not have to face the same rigorous tests new drugs do.

He says that whereas drugs have to go through years of clinical trials "you could get a device through with a two or three day literature review and no clinical data requirement at the current time".

And whereas drugs are cleared by a central body, manufacturers of breast or hip implants can choose who they want to approve their new devices. DePuy used the British Standards Institute, known in the UK for applying its "kite mark" to products it has approved.

"This is one very large uncontrolled experiment exposing millions of patients to an unknown risk. We will only find out about the safety of these devices after large numbers of people have already been exposed," says Michael Carome, Deputy Director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, a US not for profit consumer advocacy group.

source: bbc.co.uk

Inquest opens into death of woman, 84, who died after spending freezing night outside care home in Stamford

AN ELDERLY woman died after spending a freezing night outside the care home where she lived, an inquest heard today (Tuesday).

Dorothy Spicer, 84, was found lying outside Whitefriars Care Home in St George’s Avenue, Stamford,(owned by the Orders of St John Care Trust) in the early hours of November 26, 2009. It is believed she wandered out from her room sometime the previous evening.

At an inquest into her death at Stamford Town Hall a jury heard that Mrs Spicer, known as Mick, was found by night staff at the home and was taken to Peterborough District Hospital.

She was diagnosed with hypothermia and was given antibiotics to deal with a possible chest infection.

On December 15 she was moved to the John Van Geest Ward at Stamford Hospital where she developed pneumonia. She died at the hospital on January 21, 2010.

Giving evidence, Mrs Spicer’s daughter Jane Howard described the difference in her mother’s condition before and after she was found outside the care home.

Mrs Howard said before November 26 her mother was able to walk between her room and the lounge of the care home without assistance.

She had a “wicked sense of humour” and was able to hold a conversation despite her dementia.

Mrs Howard said: “She could talk about past times with us and could sing along with old songs. Show Me The Way To Go Home was her favourite and she used to sing it to everyone.”

Mrs Howard said she had driven to Peterborough City Hospital on the morning of November 26 after learning what had happened to her mother and had noted the outside temperature displayed on her car’s dashboard as minus 1C.

She struggled to hold back tears as she described her mother’s condition when she arrived at her hospital bed.

She added: “She had the look in her eyes of a petrified animal. It was shocking to imagine my mother had spent a night outside. It is torment to imagine it.”

Mrs Howard told the jury she thought rules or guidelines had been broken and the staff at Whitefriars had let her mother down that night.

The inquest also heard from Patricia Woods, who worked at Whitefriars for 24 years before leaving in 2011.

Mrs Woods was a care leader at the home in November 2010, although she was not on duty at the time Mrs Spicer was found outside.

She told the jury how each external door in the home was locked and alarmed and staff would be alerted via pagers and two wall-mounted displays if a door was opened.

Mrs Woods said if a door was found open a search of the immediate area would be carried out, followed by a headcount.

If a resident was found to be missing, a full search of the grounds and the roads surrounding the house would be made.

She also described how the care leader in charge of the afternoon shift would give notes on each resident to the carers taking over for the night shift.

The jury then heard from engineer Graham Burrows of nurse call system manufacturer Courtney-Thorne.

Mr Burrows said he made a site visit on November 30, 2009, and found no fault in the alarm system.

He explained how computer logs showed an alarm had been deactivated on one of the care home’s external doors at 8.52pm on November 25 and was not reactivated until 9.19pm that evening.

The inquest also heard from two pathologists. Professor Guy Rutty carried out the post mortem examination on Mrs Spicer on January 25, 2012. He concluded that she died from pneumonia which was brought on by the lack of mobility caused by the night spent outside Whitefriars Care Home.

Prof Rutty told the jury the difference in Mrs Spicer’s clinical state before and after she was found outside had changed significantly and this was as a result of the hypothermia she suffered that morning.

But Dr Adam Coumbe, who produced a second report based on Mrs Spicer’s medical notes, said the pneumonia had nothing to do with hypothermia. Dr Coumbe instead told the jury he thought a lack of mobility was caused by a a sudden deterioration in Mrs Spicer’s dementia and this had led to her contracting the infection that killed her.

The inquest will resume tomorrow with the jury expected to hear from two carers who were on duty when Mrs Spicer was found in the Whitefriars grounds.

source: stamfordmercury.co.uk

Three trapped in four vehicle pile-up at Leeds accident blackspot

Personal Injury Yorkshire

Three injured people had to be cut free after a four-vehicle collision at an accident black-spot outside Leeds where three students were killed five years ago.

A fleet of six ambulances and fire crews from West and North Yorkshire were mobilised to deal with the latest crash which happened at 8.30pm on Tuesday (February 14) on the A58 Leeds Road near Wetherby. A van and three cars were involved in the collision about 750 metres from Wetherby police station roundabout, towards Collingham.

Four people suffered spinal, whiplash and other injuries and were taken to hospitals in Harrogate and York.

One suffered a broken leg. Fire crews from Wetherby, Stanks in Leeds, Harrogate and Tadcaster were involved in the rescue.

A Toyota Aygo saloon was a complete write-off.

A Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Combi van and a Kia saloon all had frontal damage.

Three people were trapped.

Wetherby Watch Commander Jack Farnell led the operation to free them.

“There were two people in the van and one in the Toyota,” he said. “The doors had to come off the van. We had to cut the roof off the Toyota.

“The others were walking wounded. The professionalism of the fire crews and ambulance paramedics working together made this a speedy extraction,” he said.

“There was excellent liaison between the two fire services from North and West Yorkshire, and the paramedics.”

Response

Three fast response ambulance vehicles and three ambulances were involved.

Watch Commander Farnell said: “But drivers should be warned to slow down – this is an accident blackspot,” he said.

In December 2006, three Wetherby student friends, Oliver Cross, Michael Tempest and Thomas Dunn, all 16, died when their Ford Escort was involved in a collision.

Their friend, 17-year-old James Trotman, who was driving, suffered serious injuries but survived.

source: yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk

Asbestos in Scorrier mineshaft uncovered by horse owner

Asbestos Claims

A large quantity of asbestos waste dug up from an old mineshaft is being investigated by the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive.

The waste was excavated during an operation to recover the body of a horse in a field near Redruth.

The animal died when the mineshaft beneath its feet in Scorrier collapsed two weeks ago.

The owner of the horse said it looked as if the asbestos had been thrown down the shaft many years ago.

David Rashleigh, the horse's owner said: "I hired a digger to get the horse out. I was moving nothing but asbestos. I would say there was about ten tonnes of it.

"The bulk of it was corrugated asbestos but there was also white sheet asbestos. I was led to believe that was the most dangerous one."

Mr Rashleigh said he contacted the authorities when he made the discovery.

A spokesperson for the Health and Safety Executive said asbestos waste was supposed to be wrapped in special bags and disposed of only at a licensed site.

The Environment Agency is currently investigating the incident and trying to find out who was responsible for dumping it down the mineshaft.

source: bbc.co.uk

MP hopes fishermen heed lessons of husband's death

Personal Injury Cornwall

A CORNWALL MP whose fisherman husband died in an accident on board his trawler has made an impassioned plea to other commercial skippers to install better safety equipment on their vessels.

Neil Murray, 57, husband of South East Cornwall MP Sheryll Murray, died from multiple injuries after a toggle on the hood of his jacket got tangled in the net as he was hauling it in, an inquest heard on Friday.

The experienced fisherman was working alone and could not reach the lever to stop the net drum on his stern trawler Our Boy Andrew, the hearing was told.

Mrs Murray, who became an MP at the 2010 general election, said after the inquest that, like increasing numbers of fishermen, her husband worked his boat alone because he could not afford the expense of employing a deckhand.

She urged fishermen to take advantage of grants that would pay up to 60 per cent of the cost of having an emergency stop button fitted, and to cut the toggles from the hoods of their sea clothing.

"This might make what's seen as an expense that can be put off for another day affordable now," she said.

"I'd like to urge all working fishermen to cut their toggles off. It's better to lose the cord out of your oilskin than lose your life. Neil didn't do that and he tragically lost his life."

Mr Murray, a father of two, who lived with his wife in Millbrook, South East Cornwall, was found by a lifeboat crew snared in the jammed mechanism around 12 hours after the accident on March 24 last year.

He had suffered multiple injuries, including massive chest injuries and a severed arm.

The inquest in Liskeard heard that an increasing number of fishermen operated their vessels single-handed because they didn't make enough money to employ deckhands.

Mr Murray, who had been fishing for more than 30 years, was described as someone who knew the risks and was very safety-conscious.

A crewman who worked on the boat with him years before had once caught his clothing in the net drum and only avoided death or serious injury when Mr Murray pulled the lever to stop the mechanism.

Mr Murray's vessel was found 24 miles off Fowey by the town's lifeboat. He had been due back in his home port of Looe at 7pm and fishermen from three local ports joined a massive search for the Our Boy Andrew, named after the couple's son.

The jury of four men and four women returned a verdict of accidental death.

Michael Wright, a fellow fisherman based in Looe, said "that "sheer economics" drove the decision to fish alone.

"The catches don't justify two men," he said. "Two men can't make a living out of catches of this size."

Mr Wright added that the net drum on My Boy Andrew had a new gearbox fitted the year before the accident, but that the lever mechanism was jury-rigged with a screwdriver and only Mr Murray knew how to operate it.

Mr Murray's on-board diary showed he had planned to haul in his first catch at 11.40am, and it is thought it was around this time that the accident happened.

Another trawlerman fishing nearby saw the boat moving under power at around noon but saw no sign of Mr Murray on deck.

An investigation into Mr Murray's death by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said a single hood toggle was found three revolutions of the drum from Mr Murray, suggesting it dragged him into the mechanism. He was using the portside net, the furthest from the stop lever.

Detective Sergeant Darren Rosson, a police officer and friend who had grown up near Mr Murray in Cornwall and often fished with him a few months before the accident, described him as an excellent fisherman.

"Safety was always on his mind and I'm sad he died the way he did," he said. "It's a dangerous occupation and I'm sure he won't be the last person to lose his life fishing."

source: thisiscornwall.co.uk

Edinburgh woman makes plea over PIP implants

PIP Implant Claims

A woman from Edinburgh has urged other women to have their PiP implants checked after seeing her ruptured prosthetic for the first time.

Jenny Brown, 41, had her implants removed after she found that one of them had ruptured following a scan and silicon had gone into her lymph nodes.

She said she had been living "a complete nightmare" since she first heard about problems with PiP implants.

Ms Brown admitted to crying when she saw the broken, yellowing prosthetic.

Specialists had found lumps under her right arm and a scan confirmed that the right implant had ruptured and silicon had leaked into the lymph nodes.

She had the implants removed last week.

"When I found out about the rupture I was just terrified," she said. "I'm so relieved to have them out, especially when I saw how damaged these implants were.

"When I saw my ruptured implant for the first time, I just cried."

Ms Brown said she then took the implants home.

"I didn't look at them right after the procedure, but that evening I had a look," she said. "I was quite upset. I couldn't believe that was inside me. It wasn't nice.

"The left one looks intact and it's the colour you would expect it to be, although I noticed on top of it it looks almost like it's sweating - I didn't think it was meant to do that.

"The right one, it's almost as if somebody has slashed it and all the stuff is coming out - and the gel inside it is just breaking up. There were bits falling off it."

She added: "I was quite shocked when I saw the state of my right implant. I was told in my initial consultation that my implants were fine. I think it very important we all get these scans done as soon as possible.

"I was very upset and quite shocked. It's a mess. There were parts of jelly breaking off it as well as I thought: 'Where else has this stuff gone?"'

Ms Brown is involved with the PiP Implants Scotland campaign group, which includes women who have health problems because of the implants, and is calling on the Scottish government to set up a public inquiry into the issue.

As many as 4,000 women in Scotland may have had breast implants made by French company Poly Implant Prostheses (PiP) which used non-medical grade silicone intended for use in mattresses.

However, Holyrood's health committee has suggested that the figure could be as low as 1,300.

No women have received the implants in the Scottish NHS.

'Get justice'

Across the UK, about 40,000 women received the implants, manufactured by PiP which has now closed down.

The owner of PiP, Jean-Claude Mas, was arrested and is facing charges of "involuntary injury".

The UK government has said women given PiP breast implants on the NHS will be able to have them removed for free, with private firms expected to offer the same deal.

While experts concluded there was no evidence to recommend routine removal of the implants, they said they could not entirely rule out that some were toxic.

Ms Brown said: "I never had any symptoms, no pain. I wasn't even aware of the rupture. There was no difference in size and no change in shape either.

"I am angry - when you go into this type of surgery, you think you would have some sign or be aware of that.

"We just want to make sure there is something consistent in place, and not having women just coming away from the clinic and thinking they have time to save up to get them replaced because they could have ruptures in their chest and not be aware of it".

source: bbc.co.uk

Ratings boost for maternity units

Birth Injury Claims

Top care at maternity units has saved them almost £1m.

This month maternity units at St Helier and Epsom hospitals were awarded the level two standard under the NHS's clinical negligence scheme for trusts, after a two-day audit of their services.

A spokesman for the hospitals said the award would lower the units' insurance premiumss by 20 per cent - saving £893,000.

Dr Rim El-Rifai, clinical director for women and children’s services, said: "It’s extremely gratifying to have achieved this award, which confirms something I had already believed - that we offer excellent maternity services to prospective families."

source: surreycomet.co.uk

Birmingham Children's Hospital could be moving, NHS boss Sarah-Jane Marsh claims

Birmingham Claims

BIRMINGHAM Children’s Hospital could be moving after little more than 20 years at its current city centre base.

Health bosses said the 300-bed Steelhouse Lane site had ‘huge limitations’ – just two days after unveiling a new £2.5 million paediatric assessment unit.

Sarah-Jane Marsh, chief executive of Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said a future move would cost £350 million.

But she said it was vital if the hospital was to be viewed as a centre of excellence in specialist care.

“As a national leader, we will need an estate that’s fit for purpose,’’ said Mrs Marsh, who was speaking at a Health and Adults Overview meeting, held at the Council House.

“It’s clear the site has huge limitations.

“More and more people are using the hospital.

“The hospital was designed for another age and its layout means it can take a long time to get patients to theatre.

“Some of our general wards are not able to provide privacy for patients, some of the natural light is not great and the play facilities are not great.”

Mrs Marsh said the possible move could cost as much as £350 million and would take many years to materialise.

Speculation the hospital could move on to the site of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Selly Oak, were quickly dismissed by Mrs Marsh at the meeting.

In a report prepared for the committee, she suggested there were “external factors” influencing the proposal such as a potential redevelopment of the area under the city council’s Big City Plan. Modernising the hospital’s existing site is also being considered as an option.

“Could we develop our site in the future that’s fit for 21st century health care?” Mrs Marsh asked.

The move proposals are very much in their infancy and a shortlist of options will be drafted before a period of public consultation is held, likely to be in September.

The Trust’s statement of intent comes despite the hospital receiving rave reviews in its latest assessment by the Care Quality Commission.

source: birminghammail.net