A Tasmanian coroner has recommended a small gift shop and cafe in the north-west install warning signage with “very bold and distinctive colours” after an elderly woman tragically died following a stumble on their steps.
Bernice Valma Gleeson, 84, passed away on October 30, 2021, after slipping on steps at the Touchwood Cottages, Gallery and Cafe in Stanley ten days earlier.
In his findings published on Friday, Coroner Robert Webster said Gleeson was taking part in a bus trip for retirees operated by Community Transport Services Tasmania, a service she regularly enjoyed using.
After her fall at the cafe on October 20, she was assisted to her feet, ate lunch and then, feeling unwell, was checked by a nearby pharmacist before being rushed to hospital by ambulance.
Gleeson had a CT scan upon arriving at North West Regional Hospital around 3:30pm and was flown to Royal Hobart Hospital, Tasmania’s only public neurosurgical facility, by helicopter that night for further medical treatment.
Despite surgery two days later and subsequent care back on the north-west coast, which her family said was complicated by COVID restrictions, she passed away.
Webster said it was “unlikely” earlier surgery could have improved the outcome due to a “combination of factors”, including the injury’s severity, the need to reverse the effect of Gleeson’s blood-thinning medication and surgical risks.
“In addition, and generally speaking an older person, such as Mrs Gleeson, does not do as well after such surgery as a younger person does,” Webster said.
Webster criticised the existing signage, which reads ‘Please Mind The Steps’ in black writing on a white background, for being “not big and distinctive enough”.
He said the background of the current signage tended to blend in with the surrounding walls, which posed an issue “especially when people are concentrating on the very many gifts one could purchase”.
“I therefore recommend that a much larger sign in very bold and distinctive colours warning of the presence of the steps be erected in both directions so there is one facing foot traffic going down the stairs and one facing foot traffic coming up the stairs,” he said.
“These days Stanley is a popular tourist town on the north-west coast of Tasmania. There are a number of attractions to visit both in the town and its nearby surrounds.”
“No doubt many of these tourists visit [the] business to purchase a souvenir, attend the cafe and/or stay in one of the cottages.”
“Many of the visitors to his business will be elderly and many of those will have difficulties with mobility which is what occurred on 20 October 2021.”
