Safety plans pointless if not implemented says regulator
NEW YORK: Safety controls for residential care and group homes are pointless if they are not put into practice, WorkSafe New Zealand has said after a vulnerable Taranaki woman drowned in a bath.
The comments come after the country’s largest provider of services to people with intellectual disabilities was fined $425,000 in the New Plymouth District Court on Friday over the death of a 63-year-old woman in its care.
The woman, whose name has been suppressed, was found face down and unresponsive after she was left alone on October 8, 2016.
Idea Services Limited, the service arm of IHC New Zealand, was also ordered to pay $75,000 to the woman’s family at Friday’s hearing, while costs of $43,278 were awarded to WorkSafe.
A WorkSafe investigation found that Idea Services Limited had not been implementing effective policies and procedures to manage the hazard of bathing vulnerable service users in its care.
Idea Services had denied failing to comply with its health and safety duties but pleaded guilty at a trial last year in the New Plymouth District Court.
In a statement on Monday, Worksafe said it was vital that the risk of drowning in a bath is identified and assessed and that appropriate controls are put in place.
However, Worksafe said it was pointless for a business to have a control plan on paper if it did not implement it.
WorkSafe’s area manager Paul West said Idea Services was aware of the risk to service users after a similar drowning in 2014 and had updated its hazard register.
“It introduced a control plan around providing baths to service users in care and specified that the level of support required for service users needed to be assessed on a patient-by-patient basis.”
Despite this case, Idea Services did not identify the risk posed to this service user, West said.
“Idea Services failed to ensure it developed and implemented effective information and guidance for workers on how to bathe services users in a safe way.
“The information provided to workers must be clear, practicable and be effectively communicated.
“It’s all well and good to have these plans in place, but unless they’re being implemented and risks are being properly managed, they are absolutely pointless,” he added.