Joan Daws had been 18 months away from retiring
The son of a woman crushed in a care home lift more than three years ago has expressed relief that her bosses have admitted health and safety breaches.
Joan Daws, 64, died in hospital five days after she was pinned to the wall of the lift by a weighing chair at The Laleham care home in Herne Bay, Kent.
KCRH Limited, which ran the home, admitted health and safety failings at Canterbury magistrates on Wednesday.
Simon Daws said it had taken KCRH "so long" to finally admit its guilt.
The company is due to be sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court at a date yet to be decided.
Joan Daws died five days after she was pinned to the wall of the lift
The care home worker became trapped in the lift while moving a chair used to weigh patients in October 2013.
An inquest jury two years later found her death could have been avoided if a safety sensor had been put in place.
The inquest was told staff at the care home heard screams after Mrs Daws pulled the equipment into the lift and it started to move.
It heard the lift had not been inspected at regular intervals and had only been fitted with a safety sensor since her death.
The care home worker was moving a chair used to weigh patients
Speaking on Friday, Mr Daws said his mother had been 18 months away from retiring.
"She was looking forward to spending more time at home... [but] because someone didn't do their job she was robbed of that opportunity."
The care home has changed ownership since the death of Mrs Daws.
- Published3 December 2015
