Rare complication led to fall man’s death

A man from Middleton who fell from a lifting platform at work died from a rare complication following surgery to his knee, a jury ruled.

A jury of 10 decided 55-year-old warehouse picker Roy Ford died from a recognised complication after sustaining the injury in October 2009.

Mr Ford was standing on tiptoe to lift a heavy package from a shelf at Express Gifts in Chadderton. He fell, suffered a complex fracture to his knee and later underwent surgery.

The jury accepted medical evidence that the cause of death was a blocked blood vessel in his lungs — brought about by deep-vein thrombosis following the operation.

Mr Dinesh Sharma, a consultant surgeon at the Royal Oldham Hospital at the time, said the operation had gone well and he was surprised to hear of Mr Ford’s almost a month later.

He explained that obesity, a plaster cast and subsequent immobility were risk factors for Mr Ford, but he believed continuing a course of blood-thinning drugs after a post-operative review would not have reduced the likelihood of the fatal blockage.

Discrepancies were apparent during evidence about the circumstances of his death.

No one at Express Gifts had witnessed the fall or knew exactly how high he was working.

The inquest, at Oldham Magistrates’ Court, heard that safety guards on the lift truck had not been put in place. Mr Ford had previously had manual-handling training.

Since the father-of-two died, changes have been made at the firm.

Catherine Crookall, a senior environmental health officer for Oldham Council, who interviewed Mr Ford after the incident, said that the company had been issued with an improvement notice following the fall.

She said: “Mr Ford was in high spirits and almost itching to get back to work, but he was worried about it happening to anybody else.

“Order pickers have been re-briefed and I’m satisfied it would not happen again, as long as the risk assessments and safe systems of work are followed.”

Coroner Simon Nelson said no one could have anticipated the fall would spark the chain of events that lead to Mr Ford’s death.