I watched the accused last night, for those who didn't a young man is killed when on the first day of his new job he is instructed to drive a forklift with only a basic 5 minutes instruction. He collides with racking, which collapses and he is killed. A cover up then ensues and his mother goes through various courts trying to get the manager of the Company prosecuted, CCTV cameras not working that day, had 4 hours of instruction etc. A verdict of accidental death is given and the manager is absolved of responsibility. Mother then burns the warehouse down in frustration and to give her own justice. I was curious as obviously this is for a TV drama, but in reality would the HSE not conduct a seperate investigation and possibly prosecute under the corporate manslaughter act? Even though a police investigation shows no blame. Obviously the police arne't ofae with RTIB training. Thoughts? Oh, mother is then cleared by a jury whilst in court for arson.

I didn't see it and bearing in mind that this was fiction/tv drama call it what you like, I believe that an investigation into a death at work is likely to be a joint one between the enforcing authority LA/HSE and the Police, with the LA/HSE providing the Police with assistance of the technical detail of the offences, risk management aspects etc. There is a protocol for this to ensure liaison and co-ordination.

Should have stopped reading at the first sentence then.

It was simply a TV drama-fiction Considering the current standards for Fork Lift Training and absence of any documentation that FLT training was given and effective in the TV drama, the drama storyline depended upon not getting justice for the industrial accident so that the jury could give the "not guilty" verdict to the mother's for setting fire to the warehouse!

Remember watching a Judge John Deed on a simular topic. New worker killed on first day etc. In it owner prosecuted over failures. Quite good and the case law quoted in court was correct. Owner found guilty after HSE investigation. Police have very little understanding of H&S law and how it applies.

Did not see it but it does remind me of a certain incident in 1998 where a young student (Simon Jones) was employed to work on the docks and was sadly killed by a crane grab on his first day. Working in a hazardous environment and with almost no h&s training, Simon was obviously very vulnerable. The CPS initially would not prosecute the company or owners for manslaughter, eventually through pressure by the family and friends the owners were prosecuted some years later. A tragic case and if you care to read more - http://www.guardian.co.u...y/18/weekend.libbybrooks

My wife told me off for ranting, she lost the will to live when I started talking about FLT training times, the lack of HSE, no in depth investigation...... oh the list went on. Got to say though...glad she got off!

He was spot on with Hillsborough. If he would have showed all the training that was needed the R/A's safe systems of work, levels of supervision etc he would have run out of time and H&S would have been critised for being over the top. You would like to think it was only a drama but we read with a lot of cases that records had been messed with. Yes HSE would have been involved.