Judge fines Anchor Trust six figures after man dies smoking alone at care home

The death of a wheelchair-bound man whose pyjamas caught fire when he smoked a cigarette at his care home, has led to provider Anchor Trust being fined £210,000 for fire safety breaches.

Sixty-six-year-old Gordon Boxall was living at Barnfield Care Home in Horley, run by Anchor Trust, when he became ‘engulfed in flames’ after he was left unattended by care staff to smoke a cigarette outside the care home’s building.

Parkinson's meant resident often dropped things

Mr Boxall, who had Parkinson’s and was known to have a tendency to drop things because of his medical condition, was left to smoke alone in his wheelchair on 2 February 2015 and suffered 80 per cent burns, dying later that day when his cigarette set fire to his clothes.

Mr Boxall’s daughter Helen Boxall fainted at the scene, when she witnessed her father in flames.

Paraffin-based cream acted as accelerant

Guildford Crown Court heard the care home resident had cracked, dry skin which was being treated at the time with a flammable paraffin-based cream, which acted as an accelerant on the flames, During sentencing, Judge Peter Moss said: “Better supervision should have been employed – but it wasn’t.”

The lawyer for Surrey County Council, Saba Naqshbandi told the court Mr Boxall's death could have been avoided had he been supervised by staff while smoking or worn a fire-proof smoking apron. Mr Boxall also did not have an up-to-date risk assessment to mitigate against the dangers posed by the paraffin-based skin cream he was prescribed and smoking.

Anchor Trust, was ordered to pay its six figure fine on 6 September after pleading guilty on 19 June 2017 to three breaches of fire safety regulations. Anchor Trust’s safety breaches were: failure to provide care home staff with adequate safety training, failure to provide a suitable risk assessment and failure to take enough protective measures regarding smoking. Judge Moss imposed a fine of £45,000 for each of the three breaches plus £75,000 costs.

The prosecution was brought by Surrey County Council’s Surrey Fire and Rescue Service. Nigel Gray, assistant group commander responsible for fire safety at Surrey Fire and Rescue attended Guildford Crown Court to hear Judge Moss pass his sentence. The assistant group commander said: “We wanted to raise the potential dangers of paraffin-based creams and smoking together.

“Staff should make sure risks are evaluated with potential hazards from paraffin-based cream. It’s important that risk assessments are kept up to date in light of any changes and all care staff are trained to recognise the dangers presented by fire.”

'Deeply sorry'

The court was told that Anchor Trust now ensure smoking aprons and non-paraffin-based creams are available for all residents. In a statement from Anchor Trust, Mark Greaves, care director for Barnfield Care Home, said: “We are deeply sorry for the distress this tragic accident has caused and we have passed on our condolences to Mr Boxall’s family.

“This incident happened more than two years ago and the home is now under a different management team. We have conducted our own full investigation and have worked with police and social services to ensure all possible lessons have been learnt and acted on.

“Staff at the home have had extensive training to provide the highest standards of care that we expect. The regulator, the Care Quality Commission, recognises this and they recently rated the home as good.”

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