‘Tumble dryer firm must act to prevent more fire deaths’ – coroner’s report
AMAN who lost his partner and best friend in a fire says he hopes a coroner’s report will help “the boys and their families get justice”.
Friends Bernard Hender, 19, and Doug McTavish, 39, died from carbon monoxide poisoning in October 2014 when a fire tore through their flat in Ancaster Square, Llanrwst.
Mr Hender’s partner, Garry Lloyd Jones, who was the owner of the property managed to escape from the blaze with his life.
Assistant coroner for north Wales, David Lewis, had recorded a narrative verdict on their deaths following an inquest held over five days in April and August of this year. He ruled that the blaze was caused by an electrical fault in the door switch of a Hotpoint tumble dryer
And this week, the coronoer has published a report on that inquest entitled “Report To Prevent Future Deaths” in which he states: “...on the balance of probabilities the fire could be attributed to a problem with the tumble dryer, more specifically an electrical fault associated with the door switch assembly.
“I heard evidence confirming the manufacturers of the dryer were aware of a significant numbers of other fires associated with similar appliances and door switch assemblies.”
In the report, Mr Lewis raised concerns that evidence from witnesses called by lawyers for Whirlpool during the hearing had been “defensive and dismissive”.
The coroner went on to express his concern that the door switch assembly is used in “literally hundreds of thousands of appliances manufactured by Whirlpool”.
He says he didn’t emerge from the inquest hearing feeling “confident” the multi-billion-dollar American company had “fully identified or appreciated” the extent of the risk of fire.
He wrote: “My impression was that at least some of the evidence from those called at the request of Whirlpool was defensive and dismissive in nature”.
Mr Lewis said evidence from the firm’s retired global product safety director Larry Latack about the use of data from the field, such as reports of fire, was of “considerable concern”.
The report has been sent to Whirlpool as well as the families of both victims.
Whirlpool has a duty to respond within 56 days, which must contain details of the action taken, or proposed to be taken, or they must explain why no action is proposed.
Mr Lloyd Jones told the Daily Post: “I’m pleased the coroner has been so thorough throughout the inquest, I believe he has not left a stone unturned.” He added: “I just hope Whirlpool will act so that further deaths will be prevented.”
In a statement issued after the inquest on September 1, from Whirlpool said: “First and foremost, we extend our profound condolences to the families and friends of Bernard Hender and Douglas McTavish.
“Safety is always our number one priority. We treat all incidents extremely seriously and we have a robust process that continuously reviews the safety of all our products.
“We will carefully review and consider the coroner’s findings in this case.”
The Whirlpool Corporation is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of home appliances, its revenue last year was $20.71bn.
Whirlpool has come under criticism following a safety alert over the fire risk posed by faulty Hotpoint, Indesit and Creda tumble dryers.
The devastating Grenfell Tower fire started in a faulty Hotpoint fridgefreezer.
Solicitor Thomas Jervis, from law firm Leigh Day which represents the families of Mr McTavish and Mr Hender, said: “The families of Doug and Bernard want to make sure that no other families go through what they have had to and we hope that the coroner’s report will prompt swift and effective action from Whirlpool.
“We will continue to call for Whirlpool, and other manufacturers, to take action on potentially dangerous white goods and for an effective recall system to be implemented to prevent the devastating consequences of appliance fires.”