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Residential landlords alert after scalded baby death inquest

06 February 2008

Shoosmiths is urging residential landlords to heed warnings about the dangers of hot water systems after an inquest into the death of a severely scalded 10-month-old baby said the tragedy could have been avoided.

Rhianna Hardie died after suffering 85% burns when a cistern split above her cot, at a Taunton council house.

Shoosmiths solicitor and regulatory expert Hayley Saunders said the case has important consequences for residential landlords.

“If a similar tragedy were to happen in the future, it could be difficult for a landlord to establish that he did all that was reasonably practicable if steps hadn’t been taken to reduce the risk of it happening,

“The publicity surrounding this case must act as a warning to any landlord of the dangers involved, while any failure to take remedial steps would almost certainly result in enforcement action against the landlord.”

Reaching its verdict, the inquest jury said: “The tragedy would not have occurred if the full implications of a similar incident at Penwith, in 2002, had been drawn to the attention of landlords by the relevant authority, and steps taken to ensure that water systems complied with current standards.”

Rhianna died after a thermostat broke on a hot water cylinder receiving cold water from a cistern. It meant water reached boiling point, causing the cistern to split along a section of its base which was unsupported.

Soon after, Taunton Deane Borough Council issued a fact sheet with information and advice about immersion heaters and heating systems for people living in council and ex-council houses.
 
Hayley Saunders said: “There should be procedures in place to ensure that where this type of system is installed in a tenanted property, it is fully supported across the base, and that the cylinder is fitted with a failsafe thermostat device.”

The Health & Safety Executive has issued a safety alert aimed at homeowners, tenants, landlords and the plumbing industry, and calls on homeowners and landlords to pay particular attention to systems more than 10-years-old, or where they may have concerns over the quality of installation or repair work.

The following steps should be taken to reduce risk:

Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) cisterns are very common in houses built since the early 1970’s, but if not supported across their entire base they can buckle at the sides.  British Standard BS 4213:2004 requires that, ‘...the base of the cistern should be fully supported over its whole area by a durable, rigid, flat and level platform’.

For further information please contact:
Name: Alastair Gray
Phone: 08700 864096
Email: alastair.gray@shoosmiths.co.uk

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