LIFT ACCIDENT AT HOSPITAL.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20183, 11 March 1931, Page 11

LIFT ACCIDENT AT HOSPITAL.

. ' I WOMAN PATIENTS DEATH. N ' ' .. .FINDING- AT • THE > INQUEST. ■ she adjourned inquest concerning the dottth of Mfs Iyy Esther Smith, wife of Sidney Smith, of 23. Cross street, Sydenham,'who, wis killed in a lifs accident', at St,' George's Hospital on Sunday evßning,* wasconcluded at' the hos- - , H.P. I/awry, Coroner., Mr ,T. JD. ' man .Represented the' hospital authori- . ties,, and'Mr W. F. Tracy appeared for the inland, of. the .dead - woman. Sergeant Almond represented the police. . The Coroner ' returned a verdict in . accordance '"with the' medical evidence * - that iMrs. Smith-1 hdd- died-frpm htemor•rhagcofther brain' and shocks following a fall!down the';lift-well at'.St. George's Hospital, the • accident having - been cawed by the .unforeseen looseness of , the, gate Jock attached to'the outer lift gate opjthe- first, floor, prevented the cut-out costing into, operation. The Coroner added: "It would' appear desirable for /consideration* to be' given to tne of Keating' floors in lifts nped "for < the - transport' of beds, and' substitution of a cut-out operated by'the opening of the inner gate.'- f ' Dr. J. Leslie', Will gave evidence that on Sunday evening lie had received a call to the hospital and had found Mrs Smith suffering from head and leg injuries. She was than' unconscious and she died at about height o'clock. In his opinion, death wa,s due to a haemorrhage of the brain, together with shock. He did' not think, from,' the nature of her , injuries, that Mrs Smith had been t 'caught in 'the .liit. , Sister Bosina, a member of the hospital 4 staff, said that at 5.80 p.m. on Sunday she - put Mrs Smith into, the lift at the' second-floor apd. broughther down to, the 'firsts When the lift stopped she the doors &nd Went along the corridor to get AnotherNurse, probationer Leslie, to [help'' her to Imove • the bed from the lift. Then ,the lift again'behind'the bed, and had pushed it half out, when the-lift began to go up. /I. pressed the emergiency, stop-button as I felt the lift moving,''* shesaid,' "but .the-ltft* . did'not stop. Then J tried to pnsh the bei> ; out into .the-Corridor, but ' it stucjjtin the doorway and'gradually .tilted. downward' aa the I lift' went up until it. caught; against the' ceiling." "In ■ themeantime Jttrs'&mith 'had fallen,out of ( the bed and.witflepttthought that she had | „ fallen' .clear of the doorway, . TiieX lift t | then .stopped of its' o,wn accord ;nearly at 'the, second'-floor. „ f - Bight, Button. yTt Sergeant Almond witness said she' 39? -«oite. gfls- §h&~ ha& : -Up

right'' button in! her attempttoistoptho f lift. ".When she -had found did not ptop, she hagl looked again tho button and'made sure the right, one. She 4 Mr Haraan v that she'was accustomed > tp - utfiqg'J the, lift .and told htakthat sho,had fye&uent-. ly tai;en Mrs; Smith up andsaown before in the same bed. The lift, failed in-this Way .before,' and when it had started to move she. had not,, pven. felt' alarmed, so-certain was. the emergeney-button.Wquld'fstop, it< ;' "'Nurse Probationer Leslie Bald that' when she' jwas lifting the,, bed ,out ; of the lift -the cage suddenly began, to ''rise, and before she realised what happened was halfway -to * the ceiling.' Knowing that; she, could, do nothingphe' went for J help f and whpn she«arrived back again she-saw the bedclothes tug down, the SrolL. 1 She-hpd, used', * the lift for some tiiue, and, except that it, had never stopped quite flush , 'with the floor, passage, 'it had always seemed perfectly -satisfactory. She< told- M!r Harman that,.she. had' not'had'time .to pull the,.bed out of.'the' lift, because almost'as soon as she had realised' that it was it was* halfway up, land she wa& frightened' that she. might do, some damage. ■- j - Inspector's Evidence. _ Mr- William, Thbjnas Robinson, In-" spector of Machinery, .handed in a" report in: which/he explained that; the gate-lock fixed to the .wall of the liftwell .had -become. loosened so that tho lever projecting from-it which,' when l pushed aside by the arrival* of the", lift, actuated the cut-out switch, had not been able to operate property. As a Tesult^^ven,though the outer door had< been, open, the cut-out had, not been; in operation and the lift was able to move in answer to 'pressure-.on the- callbutton on another floor. He' told the .Coroner that, he could > not account fois the jfaqt that the liftdid nb't jStop when the .emergency, stopbutton was pressed by Sister Bosina. When tested on the following day tho button had "been found to stop the lift immediately. The. pressing,, of* a callbutton on another floor, Jbe emphasised, would not have move'd the lift from"~tbe floor at which it was standing, but for the defect • in the cut-out apparatus «n the first-floor lock and even if j the call-button on s f<he "'other floor ( had been pressedcontinuously tho emergency stop-button 'in, the, lift should have worked. When he, had inspected the lift on the following day he had found.it shoppedvajhout" onj .foot• below the levql of,the,secoKd'floor,-wher& it should only, have, tiiojpped if thtf emer-gency-button had beeu j pressed. The .lift < Was not jammed moved ! with 1 the ai<i of the hand-winding /geat,j ; He. could only' think that the stop-biit- | . ton must have been'' used.' to , stop- it ■ in, J , that position*. ■ ,/ ■ ' f3ven 7 with the. defective cut-out, "Mr Bobinson con^inuo'd,' thei., accident-- woisd' never have happened" it someone" had , been standing on the floating portion of the-floor near the "front.of the 'lift,' because, the -floating -V :a' ! switch which, when it waij boi,ag jpreß%ed. down by tho passenger's weight. ' put' into-, jeitirii^cut^utjvthat;

-the| opeiL ,j In the * 1 In his upiniou tho solo cause of the accident ins the .defectvin- the outer. the defect would' boon* the only sign that something wan wrong.;^He^.Woi&di6oti^|e^.to^^^^^ Lafit might ca3ly hale B benn dono.only that day, Cause of Damage to licck. , the BaidJ^M, .dent.ih' theyho'spitiiltwho^aa t^v?^ec- ■ < trical expert or who uudtoatood but that an electrician was engaged'under contract to maintain the'lift. He agreed with Mr^racy'that^OJ^aMM;, tha damage to the lock waa that it had bean fairly frequently knocked by Objects, such as beds and 1 wheelf>d trays,%being, taken in lifts< : ATrangementß were Wde for tho loek to be protected l>y'an "It seems to ire that there had to bo three conditions ruling-all at once," the Coroner' at'-^ihw** '♦The cut-out had to be out enaction, 1 there had to be np one far enough ward jn the lift to operate tho floating floor,' and someone' had tfr press the,'button' the' uppfir flcfOr-i-all at the same moment.'' »*/■»* is'' ■ Margaret iSlisibeti' Piclunng, cm ployed in the hospital office, said she was «n the'topfloorat the, timeJ dent, «nd wai'helping ,to bring patieuta'. down" to tho -first floor. For this pur- ' pose she pressed' the call-button for the lift, but 1 the lift did not move. .Then, heaxing'some inoLvera entof r the,lift-dopr<j' below' she imagin«cl ihatfthoy were'sbefatg. shut and pre6s«id the cAH-button again. Then she heard crashes and cries from dbwn-the lift«well. She had just the'button; and"no moroi taking "her ' ' Engineer's Opinion. * ' Thomaa Jones,,.' .eletftiSjal, gaye evidence ho had installed tho 1 'lift'and' was maMtain it. Ue examined it onee_ & week under his contract, j wd v plaßt''l«:'' Spected it, on the Monday fcofore ,the accident. - ? \} >, ; Mr Jones maintained that the list,£l9; stop in answer to the pressure onj xhfe efflercency-atop button, and claimed that .th'st a6cbuiiteQ F ;for the fact that it had stopped a-foot'or so below the second floor without jamming, anfl/iOsoi£|®®|ft. 'fact that no defect could afterw«*sfep6< 'found: in the-Stop button equipment. ■.. f At , his last insp«ictipu;,the ;JgaW*lock had- heentin, perfect order. The/lpcks were special ones that had been brought : > "fche 'oUpi„auwßecl' with the lift had been eonsid«tedl4«ffli lont. Tho hospital had never detri^l

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