Coroner warns of risks of stairs for older men after 81-year-old man’s fatal fall

An elderly man who died after falling down a ladder while trying to install a sunshade on his roof should have hired someone else to do the job, a coroner has found.

Ronald James Wright, 81, died in hospital in February following an incident at his Mowbray home the previous month.

Coroner Olivia McTaggart said Wright was using a 173cm long aluminum A-frame ladder to install a sunshade on January 24 when the top step gave way.

She said Wright was working at a height of 2.8m and “made no arrangements” to properly secure the legs of the ladder or ensure another person was present.

“As he was working on the ladder at roof height, the ladder lost balance when he tried to secure himself on the top rung,” McTaggart said.

“On the top step there was a partially defaced sign warning the user of the stairs not to stand on that step.”

McTaggart said Wright fell to the concrete patio below and was found by his partner conscious, in pain and bleeding from his head shortly after.

He was taken to Launceston General Hospital with multiple injuries including skull fractures, brain contusions, subdural haematoma, subarachnoid haemorrhage, right humerus fracture and pelvic fracture.

He was airlifted to the Royal Hobart Hospital for specialist intensive care and remained there for 12 days, but his recovery was complicated by delirium.

On February 4, his condition worsened due to pulmonary thromboembolism and he died the next day.

McTaggart said it was “not practical” for Wright, 81, to work at the height of a ladder, especially without using it safely.

“Over the years, coroners have repeatedly highlighted that older men using stairs unsafely causes preventable deaths,” she said.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Wright’s death is another such incident.”