Death of undertaker crushed by coffin lifter was an accident, jury concludes

A fault was found with the hydraulic scissor lift mortuary trolley after Mrs Blundell’s death

An undertaker was accidentally crushed to death after she positioned herself in the scissor lift of a coffin lifter machine at a funeral parlour and it descended unexpectedly onto her, an inquest concluded.

Funeral administrator Sally Blundell, 58, was found trapped underneath a device used to move bodies from cold storage in a back room at a branch of the East of England Co-op Funeral Services. The grandmother had been working alone at the branch in Swaffham, Norfolk on December 1 2023 and was found by a colleague from a neighbouring branch in Dereham.

The coroner earlier told the hearing it was not known why Mrs Blundell had “inserted herself” in the frame of the device but that her glasses had been found on the floor. Jurors returned a conclusion of accidental death after hearing evidence at an inquest in Norwich, on the third day of proceedings.

They recorded that she died at some point between 9.46am when she was last seen on CCTV at the funeral parlour and 12.06pm when she was found. The inquest was earlier told there are no CCTV cameras in sensitive areas of the funeral parlour where bodies are kept.

Concerns had been raised after a woman who had made arrangements to see a deceased relative at the branch attended for her 11am appointment and found there were no staff at the funeral parlour. She tried calling the celebrant she had been dealing with and a message was passed to another branch, with a colleague from the Dereham branch attending and finding Mrs Blundell dead.

The medical cause of death for Mrs Blundell, of Great Cressingham, was recorded as “contusion and compression of the chest by an external object”.

Norfolk area coroner Yvonne Blake told jurors that expert evidence indicated a fault was found with the hydraulic scissor lift mortuary trolley after Mrs Blundell’s death. She said the fault was that the trolley “descended unexpectedly”.

The coroner said she was considering writing to the equipment’s manufacturer A R Twigg and Son with her concerns about this issue in a Prevention of Future Deaths report.

She was told by barrister Dominic Kay for the East of England Co-op that the chain no longer uses this type of trolley.