Aged care provider fined after resident suffers fatal heater burns
13 Aug 2024•BlueSafe Team•Source: WorkSafe VIC
Blue Cross Community Care Services Group Pty Ltd has been fined after a resident suffered severe burns from a wall heater at its Glenroy facility. The 90-year-old later died from sepsis caused by complications of the burns.
The company pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to ensure the workplace was safe and without risks to health. It was sentenced in the Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court on Tuesday 6 August, receiving a fine without conviction and an order to pay $4,132 in costs.
In October 2021, the non-ambulant resident fell from his bed without anyone witnessing the fall. His feet came to rest against a hydronic wall heater, where they remained for an unknown period.
The resident was one of several people at the facility who were COVID-19 positive at the time. Restrictions were affecting staffing, rostering and the way workers attended to residents.
His burns worsened over the following weeks. Four toes on his left foot had to be amputated, and his right foot required a skin graft. He died about four months after the incident from sepsis caused by complications of necrotic burns.
The court heard that heater burn risks had already been identified in the aged care sector through Coroners Court recommendations and Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission bulletins. WorkSafe's investigation also found that a risk assessment conducted at the facility two months before the incident recommended reviewing all heater temperatures and considering heater guards.
Reasonably practicable measures included replacing the wall heaters with cool-touch models or installing protective covers over existing heaters and piping. Other measures included training and instructing workers to keep individual heaters at lower temperatures and check them regularly, as well as reducing the main boiler's maximum temperature.
WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin described the incident as entirely preventable. "The risk of wall heaters causing burn injuries to aged care residents is well known within the industry, and so are the ways to control it," Mr Jenkin said.
"There can be no excuses for this facility's failure to protect a vulnerable person in their care from a hazard they had been warned about on multiple occasions."
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