THE families of elderly victims of a nursing home blaze in which 14 residents died are angry at a litany of errors and oversights that led to the "avoidable" tragedy.
The victims of the fire at Rosepark Care Home in Uddingston, Lanarkshire, were let down by lax fire safety and faulty electrical installations that were never properly inspected or maintained, a fatal accident inquiry has found.
The inquiry report was highly critical of owners Thomas, Anne and Alan Balmer and their attempts at fire safety management, as well as highlighting errors made by the health board, the Care Commission and the fire service for failing to spot mistakes made by the owners.
A fire broke out in the linen cupboard of the home in the early hours of January 31, 2004, but attempts to prosecute the three owners over alleged health and safety breaches have repeatedly collapsed.
Sheriff Principal Brian Lockhart said: “The management of fire safety at Rosepark was systematically and seriously defective. The deficiencies in the management of fire safety at Rosepark contributed to the deaths. Management did not have a proper appreciation of its role and responsibilities in relation to issues of fire safety.”
The Balmers had no experience of running care homes when they purpose-built and opened Rosepark in 1992, having moved into the care industry from the family catering business.
In his determination, published yesterday, Sheriff Principal Lockhart also said that “all of the deaths would have been avoided” if the home’s electrical installations had been tested and maintained in line with Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE) regulations.
Official inspections of the home were also criticised, with both Lanarkshire Health Board and the Care Commission – which took over responsibility for inspections in 1992 – mistakenly believing fire safety was not part of their remit.
Between 1992 and 2002, inspections by the
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