'Duct tape' being fitted to HSE ambulance doors

“DUCT TAPE” has been fitted to emergency doors in HSE ambulances in the northeast following the death of a paramedic who fell through an open door from a moving vehicle last Thursday.

The HSE said the use of duct tape was in compliance with its instruction to all health service regions to ensure their ambulances had a two-stage, “cross-check” opening system for emergency doors.

A spokesman could not say yesterday how many HSE regions had used the duct tape on their ambulances to achieve compliance.

However, the authority did confirm all ambulances across the fleet were affected and were subject to the instruction to move to a “two-step approach” to the opening of emergency doors.

The spokesman explained the two-step approach, which he likened to the “cross check” on an aircraft, that would involve the duct tape covering the handle being removed, as the first stage, before the handle can be turned.

But he stressed the door was for emergency use only and that all personnel in the vehicle should be strapped in and sitting down when the vehicle was moving.

It was left to the individual regions to ensure compliance with the new rule, and the spokesman could not say how many regions had opted to use duct tape.

He said he had “no doubt” three parallel investigations into last Thursday’s death would make recommendations regarding safety, but in the meantime the HSE was taking whatever steps may be prudent.

The parallel investigations being conducted by the gardaí, the HSE and the Health and Safety Authority, into the death of paramedic Simon Sexton. Mr Sexton fell from a moving ambulance which was transferring a patient from Cavan General Hospital to Dublin.

The door of the ambulance opened during the journey and Mr Sexton (43) fell out on to the N3 road at Stradone, about 6km from Cavan town, as he attempted to close it. He was a member of the paramedic staff of Cavan Regional Hospital.

The HSE said yesterday the incident was the second in three years of a paramedic falling from the emergency door of an ambulance.