AN OXFORD care home has been ordered to pay £145,000 after a severely disabled girl was fatally scalded in an “excessively hot” bath.

Paraplegic Yelena Hasselberg-Langley, 18, suffered severe burns to 25 per cent of her body after being lowered into the water at a supported living centre in Owens Way, Cowley.

Lifeways Community Care, which runs the home, admitted health and safety breaches at a hearing last year and was today fined £100,000 and told to pay £45,000 costs, plus a £15 victim surcharge.

Tonight, the company apologised “unreservedly” to Yelena’s family and blamed “human failings” for the tragedy.

On August 27, 2007, Yelena was taken to Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital before being transferred to a specialist burns unit in East Grinstead. She died there four days later.

Company policy said water in care homes should be between 37C and 40C. At the time, however, it could have been as high as 66C.

Judge Patrick Eccles QC, said: “Yelena was blind, paraplegic, epileptic and severely disabled.

“The case evokes a great deal of pity for her suffering and a sense of outrage that her ensuing scalding injury and death could have been easily avoided.

“She had some power of speech, but could not clearly communicate her distress when placed in the bath and she would have suffered excruciating agony before being taken to hospital.”

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation following her death revealed that although the bath used was fitted with a special valve to prevent scalding, it was never set to the required 44C.

Staff at the home were also found to have had no training in the risks of scalding and there was no bath thermometer in place.

The investigation did not reveal who had either fitted the bath valve or failed to set it to the maximum of 44C, which could have prevented the accident.

Judge Eccles said Lifeways Community Care, which provides services to more than 350 care homes in England and Wales, had “no reason” to believe the valve had not been correctly installed.

He said he would not impose a “particularly Draconian” penalty because the risks of scalding water were already well known and said it was an “isolated, but serious lapse from the company’s standards”.

He added: “Not only have Yelena’s family experienced severe anguish, but even now they all in their different ways were profoundly affected by feelings of bereavement, depression and guilt.

“No sentence can alleviate that pain or diminish Yelena’s suffering before her death.”

Speaking outside court, HSE inspector Nina Jenkins said: “It is difficult to imagine a more vulnerable resident than Yelena. The risk of scalding to people who are so vulnerable that they cannot prevent harm to themselves is a well-known danger in the care industry.

“The consequences of scalding can, in addition to causing excruciating pain, be fatal, as so shockingly seen in this case.

“Everyone involved with the care of vulnerable service users must ensure that they have the necessary safeguards in place.

“Cases like this are completely avoidable if the correct guidance is followed.”

Speaking after the hearing, Olivier Bastion, husband of Yelena’s mother, Torild, said: “Despite today’s judgement, which saw the fining of Lifeways, which we believe was a reasonable decision, we believe more must be done to prevent this kind of accident from happening to vulnerable people in the future.”

He called for a “thorough review” of procedures, including the signing off of the care home as “fit for purpose”, the testing of all vital equipment and the assurance that staff adhered to health and safety recommendations.

The Lifeways statement

"We apologise unreservedly for this tragic accident and reiterate our sincere condolences to Yelena’s family and friends.

The tragedy was largely the product of human failings, not our systems.

We have taken the judge’s comments fully on board and we are pleased to note that the court recognised that we have, and always had, a sincere commitment to high and exacting standards of care and safety.

This was an isolated lapse and it is important to recognise that the judge said that there was no cause to doubt the organisation's high standards."