We are deeply saddened to hear about the recent reports of a pregnant lady falling to her death from a high-rise tower block at Shakespeare Towers in Leeds. Our Director and Head of Inquests, Gareth Naylor, has been campaigning for improvements in window safety in high-rise dwellings following the death of Exodus Eyob who was just 22 months old when he fell from the 7th floor window of a high-rise tower block at Saville Green, Leeds. Gareth represented the family of Exodus at the inquest and found evidence of another similar death back in 2011. A young boy called Liam Shackleton had fallen to his death from a high-rise tower block in Leeds. Following his inquest, the then Senior Coroner, David Hinchcliffe, recommended that the Council install permanently fixed restrictors to prevent future deaths. His recommendations were not implemented. During our investigations, it was discovered that, whilst some of the windows in these high-rise dwellings had restrictors, they could be easily disengaged, as was the case in the death of Exodus. It was also discovered that the windows in some of these high-rise dwellings did not meet British standards in terms of their dimensions, which meant that attempting to clean the windows was dangerous and could result in someone falling from the window. The disengagement of a restrictor can be prevented with a permanently fixed restrictor, such as cable lock restrictor or child lock window restrictor, just as is required in hospitals, hotels and schools. What has also been ignored is the fact that there is little space in these high-rise dwellings which ordinarily results in furniture being placed under windows, such as beds and room furniture. This is turn results in easy access to the windows and in turn affects the window's compliance with Part K of the Building Regulations which stipulates that any window less than 800mm of the finished floor level requires guarding. Our thoughts and prayers are with Emma Atkinson, her young baby, believed to have survived, and her family who we understand will be devastated. We urge everyone to sign Gareth’s campaign so we can bring this issue to the Government to improve window safety. A link to his campaign is here: chng.it/BpBtCcKZMq The BBC link to this recent tragedy can be found here: bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg2…

With clocks going back on Oct 27th, darker evenings = higher risk of burglaries. Criminals target unoccupied homes before you get back! 💡Tips: - Set lights on timers - Lock up, even for short trips - Keep valuables hidden - Stay safe this autumn! 🏡 #HomeSecurity #StaySafe