New protocol will speed up redress for work deaths

The time it takes for a company to be convicted following a workplace fatality should be significantly reduced from October, when a Work Related Deaths Protocol is introduced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Currently it can take between four and five years for the justice system to reach the point where an organisation is punished for a fatality at work.

One of the main changes that the protocol will introduce is to stop the automatic suspension of legal action pending the outcome of coroners’ inquests. Specifically, where there is an extremely low probability of a coroner returning an unlawful killing verdict, health and safety prosecutions can continue (although, where manslaughter or corporate manslaughter charges are likely to result, prosecutions will still be suspended pending the outcome of the coroner’s inquest).

The construction union UCATT has welcomed these changes and is optimistic that the introduction of the protocol will increase conviction rates. Acting general secretary of UCATT, George Guy, said: “The current situation where a family loses a loved one and then has to wait for many years before justice is done, is simply wrong.”

The protocol is to be administered by a national liaison committee comprising representatives of the Crown Prosecution Service, the police, the HSE and the Local Government Association.