Here at Hcsuk Servicing, we’ve received a number of calls recently where care home customers have been faced with severe challenges, through no fault of their own, when their incumbent servicing company has let them down, by either not turning up at all, or failing to book in in time to keep their lifting equipment legally compliant with LOLER.
In one case, a care home was left with 20 residents confined to bed over a weekend, because the servicing company had failed to turn up to keep their LOLER inspections up to date, and therefore all of their mobile hoisting equipment which was used to move their residents safely, was out of date and they were no longer legally compliant.
This created a safeguarding issue for the people they supported, as it’s a requirement to have a mobile hoist available when somebody needs assistance to be moved safely.
In another case, just two days before Christmas, a short breaks service, part of Leicestershire County Council, got in touch to say that their regular servicing company and their LOLER inspections were due to expire over Christmas.
They were obviously very anxious to solve this issue before the Christmas break and you can read our latest case study of the full extent of the challenge they faced, and how our fantastic team at Hcsuk Servicing worked tirelessly with them to keep their care environment safe and compliant and all resolved WITHIN 24 HOURS!
If you’re interested in learning new ways to keep your care environment safer and fully compliant with current legislation, why not download a copy of our FREE Servicing GUIDE – Helping you to create safer working environments below.
Our customer is a short breaks service where people go for respite care to allow their family members and carers some much needed ‘me time’.
Due to the nature of the disabilities of the people they support, it’s a legal requirement for them to have mobile hoists available to safely move and assist the people they support to enable them to enjoy quality of life i.e. getting them up and out of bed and into communal areas to socialise with others, allowing them to use the toilet or commode, for bathing and for day trips out.
As hoists are classed as lifting equipment under LOLER (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998) part of the Health and Safety at work act, it’s a requirement that they are thoroughly inspected every 6 month, to remain compliant.
Their current LOLER tests were due to expire on December 27th and due to the Christmas break, these tests would need to be completed before Christmas to give the people they were supporting, and their families, an enjoyable Christmas break.
They were totally reliant upon their regular equipment servicing company being organised to come out and complete these checks before they broke up before Christmas.
They were expecting their regular equipment servicing company to complete these vital inspections before Christmas, however on Wednesday December 21st just 4 days before Christmas, (with only 2 working days left) they got the news that nobody would want to hear that close to Christmas, they learned that their engineer wasn’t coming, he had let them down BADLY, with no suggestions as to how they might solve this problem .
This news left them with a massive headache, at one of the busiest times of the year when many companies would be fully booked or winding down for their Christmas break of just how they were going to get their hoists LOLER tested and compliant with only 2 working days left before everyone broke up for Christmas.
Without up to date LOLER tests, they would be in breach of Health and Safety regulations if they continued to operate the hoists to move and assist the people they support.
This would result in people being unable to get up and out of bed which would have a significant impact on their quality of life and also become a safeguarding issue due to deprivation of liberty.
Not being able to have use of their hoists over the Christmas break would severely impact the quality of life, health and wellbeing of the ladies and gents they were supporting as they wouldn’t be able to move them safely.
This could also cause complaints from families, unhappy about the treatment of their loved ones, and damage the reputation of the service through no fault of their own.
Donna, a member of our Customer Experience team, took a call from this particular service at 1.19pm, on Wednesday 21st December, just before Christmas, who had been recommended to us by another service who were part of the same county council, they were clearly very anxious to get this situation resolved before the holidays.
Because we understood and appreciated the situation the customer was in, and we wanted to work with them to resolve it, our team worked hard to organise some engineering time and capacity and we were able to arrange for our Engineer, Phil to visit and complete the LOLER inspection the very next morning, Thursday 22nd December.
As a result of our highly responsive service, the customer remained fully legally compliant throughout, with all of their hoists in safe working order over the festive period and the people they were supporting were able to enjoy their short break, all of the Christmas festivities the service had laid on, and living their fullest lives.
We gained a very happy customer, who left us this lovely review:
‘Thank you for all of your help and for accommodating us so quickly. Phil did a great job!
I will be in touch in the future for our servicing needs.’
That’s what we call a WIN WIN for all! 😊
If you would like to learn more about how we can take care of all of your care equipment servicing, maintenance and LOLER testing, ensuring you remain compliant at all times, without having to worry about a thing, why not call and speak to Lee today on 01773 532588, or why not book a call with him to discuss any questions or challenges you have on any aspect of equipment servicing here.