A somber inquest has shed light on the tragic accidental death of a care worker, Jacqueline Langworthy, who became fatally trapped in a platform lift accident while transporting a stand aid.

The distressing incident occurred on July 24, when Ms. Langworthy, an otherwise seasoned professional newly employed at Grove House in Coventry, found herself caught between the descending platform lift and the wall of the shaft. The stand aid she was moving reportedly snagged on the edge of the lift, creating the perilous entrapment, highlighting critical workplace safety concerns.

During the jury-led inquest, it was revealed that the lift’s controls, once activated for descent, operated under ‘latch control,’ rendering them inaccessible to Ms. Langworthy as she was pinned above the platform. This critical design feature meant she was unable to halt the machine’s movement or extricate herself from the escalating danger, contributing to the tragic platform lift accident.

Despite her desperate cries for help, and the subsequent efforts to release her, Ms. Langworthy sadly succumbed to her injuries. Her care worker death has been officially ruled as accidental, bringing a close to the formal inquiry into the heartbreaking circumstances, and adding to the significant inquest findings.

Further details emerged during the proceedings, indicating that Ms. Langworthy had entered the lift with the stand aid despite an explicit care home policy prohibiting staff from traveling with equipment in that particular lift. This breach, though not directly causing the mechanical failure, became a significant point of discussion regarding operational safety protocols.

The jury ultimately concluded that the cause of death was asphyxiation, reinforcing the severity of her entrapment. The verdict of accidental death underscores the unforeseen and unfortunate sequence of events that led to the fatality, prompting further scrutiny into workplace safety standards.

An expert engineer from the Health and Safety Executive, who examined the lift and the stand aid, confirmed that neither piece of equipment had any mechanical defects. The engineer’s findings underscored that the issue lay in the lift’s operational mechanism, specifically the ‘hold-to-run’ function’s absence on older models, a key part of the inquest findings.

In the wake of this tragedy, a coroner has issued a grave lift safety warning, stressing the potential for future similar incidents if older platform lifts, particularly those manufactured before 2010, are not retrofitted with ‘hold-to-run’ controls. This crucial recommendation aims to prevent others from facing a similar fate and emphasizes ongoing needs for workplace safety enhancements.