Prevention of Future Deaths reports · 2014
Regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths, reference 2014-0434, written 9 Oct 2014. A coroner writes one of these when an inquest reveals a risk that could cause further deaths unless something changes.
| Date of report | 9 Oct 2014 |
|---|---|
| Reference | 2014-0434 |
| Deceased | Wade Patel |
| Coroner | Donald Coutts-Wood |
| Coroner area | Leicester City & South Leicestershire |
| Category | Other related deaths |
| Source | judiciary.uk record · original PDF |
| Responses published | 1 |
Text recovered by OCR from a scanned PDF. OCR is imperfect: check anything you rely on against the source PDF. Reproduced verbatim, including the scan's own layout.
REGULATION 28: REPORT TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS (1) REGULATION 28 REPORT TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS THIS REPORT IS BEING SENT TO: 1. Brandon Lewis MP, Department for Communities and Local Government, 2 Marsham Street, Westminster, LONDON SW1P 4DF 4 | CORONER | am Donald Coutts-Wood assistant coroner, for the coroner area of Leicester City and South Leicestershire 2 | CORONER’S LEGAL POWERS | make this report under paragraph 7, Schedule 5, of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 and regulations 28 and 29 of the Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013. 3 | INVESTIGATION and INQUEST On 12" July 2012 | commenced an investigation into the death of Wade Dayabhai Patel, aged 26 years. The investigation concluded at the end of the inquest on 8" October, 2014. The conclusion of the inquest was a narrative conclusion which indicated there was insufficient evidence to ascertain the circumstances of how he came to fall through a glass door at his home address, where he lived with his sister — the tenant of the property. The medical cause of death was: 1a Haemorrhage from incised wounds to the back of both legs. 4 | CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE DEATH Mr Patel was found in the hallway of the address, lying close to an inner door that he had fallen through. The glass from that door had caused the injuries to his legs, these injuries leading to death. 5 | CORONER'S CONCERNS During the course of the inquest the evidence revealed matters giving rise to concern. In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken. In the circumstances it is my statutory duty to report to you. The MATTERS OF CONCERN are as follows. — The glass in the door is likely to have been the original glass, the property having been built in the 1930's. For obvious reasons the glass did not comply, from a safety viewpoint, with current legislation including building regulations. Much of our housing stock will be of similar age, or older thar A significant proportion of that stock will be rented. My understanding is that there is no legal requirement for a landlord or letting agent, to look specifically at safety of glass in a property. | further understand, for example, that there is recent legislation that enhances gas safety, requiring regular checking and recording of the checks by a suitably qualified person. It therefore seems that such glass will only be replaced either in the process of a refurbishment of the property (thereby complying with current building regulations), or when the glass breaks and requires replacement. Clearly, in this case, the breakage of the glass resulted in the death of Mr Wade Patel. ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and | believe you and your organisation have the power to take such action. | YOUR RESPONSE You are under a duty to respond to this report within 56 days of the date of this report, namely by 4" December 2014. |, the Assistant Coroner, may extend the period. Your response must contain details of action taken or proposed to be taken, setting out the timetable for action. Otherwise you must explain why no action is proposed. COPIES and PUBLICATION | have sen rt to the Chief Coroner and to the following Interested Persons — Parents); Leicestershire Constabulary. | have also sent it to| nvironmental Health Officer at Leicester City Council who may find it useful or of interest. | am also under a duty to send the Chief Coroner a copy of your response. The Chief Coroner may publish either or both in a complete or redacted or summary form. He may send a copy of this report to any person who he believes may find it useful or of interest. You may make representations to me, the coroner, at the time of your response, about the release or the publication of your response by the Chief Coroner.
1 response published against this report on judiciary.uk. A response is a body's written reply to the coroner's concerns; publication is at the discretion of the Chief Coroner's office, so an absent response does not mean nobody replied.
AS Brandon Lewis MP ee Minister of State for Housing and Planning Department for Department for Communities and Local Communities and Government 4th Floor, Fry Building Local Government BRerehesr clfoet London SW1P 4DF Fax: I D S Coutts-wood Esq E-Mail H M Coroner for Leicester City & South www.gov.uk/delg Leicestershire _ Leicester City Council_—_——~_| Our ee | Town Hall \ Your Re Town Hall Square \ \ Leicester \ 4g Jan 2015 Leicestershire LE1 9BG | _— | Nee TR. Cues aw Q REGULATION 28 REPORT TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS \ 15 JAN 205 > Thank you for your letter of 9 October 2014, enclosing your report under Regulation 28 following your inquest into the death of Mr Wade Dahyabhai Patel whose death was caused by injuries sustained from breakage of glass resulting from a collision with a glazed door. | am replying as Minister for Housing. | am sorry for the delay in replying. | was very sorry to hear about the death of Mr Patel and would like to offer every sympathy to his family and friends. In your letter, you suggest that the Department for Communities and Local Government may be able to take steps to prevent incidents of this nature occurring in the future. You will appreciate that | cannot comment on the specific issues raised by this case as | am not in possession of the full facts. However, | have set out below a general description of the scope of Building Regulations relevant to this matter and the duties of landlords and local authorities in respect of property standards. Part K (Protection from collision, falling and impact) of the Building Regulations sets out a range of requirements to ensure that glazing is installed in a way which makes reasonabie provision for safety, particularly in vulnerable locations such as doors, and in order that where glass does break, it does so safely. This does not absolutely preclude the risk of injury from glazing but does significantly reduce the likely severity of those injuries. However, the Building Regulations only apply where building work takes place, typically the erection or extension of a building and the Building Act 1984 does not provide for the retrospective application of current standards to existing buildings. The Regulations therefore will not require that existing doors be made to comply with current standards, unless building work subject to the Regulations is carried out to the part of the building in question. Requiring old buildings, designed and built with very different standards in mind, to meet the most modern Building Regulation requirements would have major implications for the existing building stock and the government has no plans to change the application of Building Regulations in this respect. Landlords have a common law duty to take reasonable care to ensure that a furnished dwelling is safe to be lived in. The Defective Premises Act 1972 also places a duty on landlords to take reasonable care to ensure that their tenants, or any other person likely to be affected, are reasonably safe from personal injury caused by a defect which exists at or after the time a tenancy was entered into and is due to an act or omission by the landlord which, had the landlord known about the defect, could have been rectified by maintenance or repair The quality of privately rented housing has improved rapidly over the past decade, and levels of satisfaction compare well to other tenures. However, a small minority of properties in the sector are in poor condition. Tenants have a right to live in safe and well maintained homes and local authorities have strong powers to tackle poor quality accommodation in their area We expect them to use those powers if necessary. Where a serious hazard is identified, the local authority must take appropriate action. This can include formal action such as issuing an improvement notice requiring the owner to make improvements to the property, banning the use of the whole or part of a dwelling or taking emergency action to fix the hazard where there is an immediate risk to health and safety. Local authorities use the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) to asses risks and guidance is available to landlords to help then identify risks and take remedial action. The HHSRS guidance includes collisions with doors as a hazard. The government has no plans to change the HHSRS | am grateful to you for bringing the sad circumstances of Mr Wade Dahyabhai Patel's death to my attention and for the opportunity to set out the Government's position on these matters BRANDON LEWIS MP
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