Sheffield high-rise flats campaigner says council must take more safety action after fall deaths

Peter MacLoughlin, a long-time resident of a high-rise block in Netherthorpe, spoke out after the deaths of two women in falls from council flats over the past two years. He is concerned that vulnerable people are being housed at height as safety restrictors on flat windows can be fully detached to enable tenants to clean them.

Coroner Alexandra Pountney raised her concerns over window safety after council tenant Saffra Winn fell to her death from a high-rise in Upperthorpe in July 2022. Following an inquest held in March, the coroner issued a prevention of future deaths report to the council.

Ms Pountney also linked in the death of an unnamed woman in a fall from a council block in Netherthorpe in December 2023.

She criticised the lack of risk assessment of the windows or the safety latches and the council’s “failure to properly investigate and risk assess any incident of this nature, together with the absence of any formal procedure or policy for this process”.

The council responded to the coroner that an independent surveyor is making a report to the council by tomorrow (June 14) that will include advice on risk assessment of window catches in city tower blocks. It said that all windows and safety catches comply with building regulations.

Advice

The response also said that new safety procedures have put in place and window safety advice has been sent out to tenants. All deaths or near misses will in future be reported to the council’s housing committee.

It also stated that the issue will be discussed at the first meeting of a high-rise tenants’ forum being set up by the council. The date for the meeting has now been set for next Monday, June 17.

Peter said he had been raising issues over window safety in tower blocks since 1990, including child safety concerns.

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He criticised the council’s response to the coroner. “Although they look like they are doing something, they are hiding behind regulation.”

“Basically, they are not recognising the issues that are being brought to their attention,” he said. “They are hiding behind a lack of resources.

“What sort of management are you looking at here when you’re looking at matters of life and death and vulnerable people or children? We shouldn’t have to wait for new regulation.”

Problems

He stressed that changing windows so that they cannot be opened would exacerbate problems with ventilation and flats overheating. He has called for the council to ensure that vulnerable people and families with children are not housed at height.

Peter credited the intervention of his Walkley ward councillor, council leaderTom Hunt, for the appearance of the high-rise tenants’ forum, which has been promised for several months now.

He said there is a lot of apathy among tenants because they believe their voices are not listened to by the council: “People have just walked away from it and it’s left to lone voices.”

Peter believes the council needs a clear housing strategy for high-rise homes plus staff who have specialist knowledge of the issues associated with tower blocks.

Any improvements have taken place are due to new regulations put in place after the Grenfell disaster, not because the council is a good landlord to high-rise tenants, said Peter.