Prevention of Future Deaths reports · 2017

Jack Sheldon

Regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths, reference 2017-0088, written 14 Mar 2017. A coroner writes one of these when an inquest reveals a risk that could cause further deaths unless something changes.

Date of report14 Mar 2017
Reference2017-0088
DeceasedJack Sheldon
CoronerNicola Mundy
Coroner areaSouth Yorkshire (East)
CategoryCommunity health care and emergency services related deaths
Sourcejudiciary.uk record · original PDF
Responses publishednone published

The report

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.

Ms N J Mundy
Senior Coroner for South Yorkshire (East District)

REGULATION 28 REPORT TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS

THIS REPORT IS BEING SENT TO: James Courtney
Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive, 197 Eyre Street, Sheffield S1 3FG

CORONER

lam Ms N J Mundy, Senior Coroner for South Yorkshire (East District)

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.

http://www. legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/25/schedule/5/paragraph/7

http://www. legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1629/part/7/made

INVESTIGATION and INQUEST

On 01/11/2016 | commenced an investigation into the death of Jack Owen Sheldon, 13 . The
investigation concluded at the end of the inquest on 14 March 2017. The conclusion of the
inquest was Accidental death.

CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE DEATH

On the 27" October 2016 Jack Sheldon was stripping paint off a motorbike he had bought in the
shed in the garden of his home with the door closed. The shed filled with petrol vapours and
petrol leaked onto objects within the shed. At some point after 20.00 hrs on the 27" the petrol
vapours reached a flammable level and reached the naked flame of the candle (being used for
light) and flashed and thereafter led to an intense shed fire. It was not known that Jack was in
the shed until after the fire had been extinguished. Four emergency calls were made to the fire
service, the first call led to reservation of an appliance but this was not mobilised as the second
call taken had more detailed information leading the operator to mobilise the second allocated
appliance, which was in fact the second nearest, leading to a delay of some four minutes in the
appliance arriving at the scene. It is unlikely that this would have made a difference to the
outcome to Jack.

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. —

(1) Lack of an effective system for management of multiple calls being received regarding the
same incident and prioritisation of appliances.

(2) Lack of effective training of staff with regard to the importance of verbal communication

(3) Lack of effective protocols for mobilisation of appropriate appliances and associated training
of staff

(4) Need for training of staff to ensure they have full knowledge of the systems in place to check
availability of appliances prior to mobilisation.

(5) An overview of the system generally with regard to the practicality of operators switching
between screens to check appliances and their availability and location when already
dealing with emergency situations.

Coroner's Court and Office, Doncaster Crown Court, College Road, Doncaster, DN1 3HS
Tel 01302 737135 | Fax 01302 736365

ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN

In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and | believe you James Courtney
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
Monday 08 May 2017. |, the 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 sent a copy of my report to the Chief Coroner and to the following Interested Persons
and to the Local Safeguarding Board.

| 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 r¢firesentations to me, the coroner, at the time of your response, about the
release or the publication of your response by the Chief Coroner.

Dated 14 Ma

Signature \
Senior Coroner for-South Yorkshire (East District)

Coroner's Court and Office, Doncaster Crown Court, College Road, Doncaster, DN1 3HS
Tel 01302 737135 | Fax 01302 736365

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