Posted By Martyn Hendrie
What point are your trying to make?

Posted By tmg
Martyn,
No point to make.
Merely highlighting the death of a person at work reported in the media.

The details are very vague. Obviously the bereaved family think someone is at fault, though the HSE decided differently.

Posted By Ron Hunter
The HSE state there was a lack of evidence -we can't argue against that.
Why though (in the context of the articles) does the 'fault'necessarily have to be with someone else?

Posted By clairel
I'm not going to comment on whetehr the HSE was right not to prosecute. I don't have the full facts to make that judgement. Neither does anyone on here I suspect. Relatives of the deceased will always want someone to be held accountable but that does not mean that is the right action to take or that it is possible to take that action (lack of evidence).

However, an important point to bear in mind is what I was told in training at the HSE:

Severity of injury does not necessarily reflect severity of breach in law.

Someone may not be injured or only injured slightly but the actual failing may have been huge. Dito someone may sadly die but there may have been little actual failing. Accidents do happen.


Martin, whilst I appreciate your feelings on wanting a harder line by the HSE, what I would point out is that the HSE investigate ony a fraction of incidents reported because they have such little manpower. A prosecution case takes an enormous amount of time to complete. Unlike EHO's, inspectors do all of it: the investigation (plus lengthy report), lengthy prosecution report AND then they have to do all the associated paperwork for the courts (summons, bundles, friskies, liase with the defendents) and then they present the case in court as prosecutor. The legal process is complex and lengthy.

A simple case takes ages a complex case can be a nightmare. The HSE simply does not have the resources to prosecute everyone who perhaps should be. That may not be a very satisfactory answer but that is the sad truth. I'm not saying that is what happend in this case but it is the reason the HSE can't just take a hard line with every offence that occurs. They would spend all their time in court and have no time for anything else.

Posted By Graham Bullough
From the limited information available from the Guardian website page the fatal accident near Swindon has similarities to a non-fatal one I investigated in the late 1970s during my time with HSE. The side of an excavation collapsed under the weight of a JCB digger tipping concrete into the excavation. The bucket of the plunging digger struck one foot of a workman in the excavation and either severed it or injured it so badly that it had to be amputated in hospital. Even though the dangers of vehicles overrunning the edges and overloading the sides of excavations had long been known in the construction industry, no precautions were provided for the task of tipping concrete into the excavation and various others at the site. The investigation led to a prosecution and the accused firm pleaded guilty.

Compared with some types of accidents, it should be relatively easy after trench accidents for HSE to obtain sufficient evidence to sustain successful prosecutions. Thus, I’m somewhat surprised that the HSE did not prosecute after the accident near Swindon. However, as Clairel rightly points out, nobody - except those involved with the case from the HSE and the CPS - has the full facts to make a proper judgement about it.

On a wider scale Clairel has also provided a very clear picture about HSE’s ability to prosecute being limited by insufficient numbers of inspectors and the considerable amount of time and effort which prosecution-related work entails. Lord Robens and his committee evidently recognised these aspects of prosecution when they included in their 1972 report the suggestion that inspectors should have the power to issue improvement and prohibition notices – respectively to get shortcomings resolved or serious situations stopped, and with the minimum of bureaucracy. I’ve always thought the notice system to be an excellent one, and certainly found it a useful and pragmatic tool during my time with HSE.