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UK News - Breaking news in the field of health and safety
Coroners to become bigger players in health and safety at ..
Coroners to become bigger players in health and safety at work
England and Wales are to benefit from greater powers to be granted to Coroners.
Currently, Coroners can make reports to public or private sector organisations concerning preventative actions, the new powers appearing in the draft Coroners Bill are to be extended as follows:
Coroners will be able to require organisations to respond to their reports and to say what action they'll take to prevent future deaths;
the Coroner will be able to request a written response to a report within a specified time backed by legal obligation;
a Chief Coroner, to be appointed under the Bill, will monitor both reports and responses; and
an annual report of these responses will be made to the Lord Chancellor and laid before the House of Commons, to ensure accountability.
Similar policy and legislative change in Australia has been heralded a success.
Comment:
"The findings of an inquest are important not just to explain how someone died but also to learn lessons for the future which will prevent deaths in similar circumstances. Currently, too often, coroners' findings are not acted on." - Constitutional Affairs Minister.
"We welcome this important proposal. In our response to the draft Coroner's Bill we argued that `robust measures need to be introduced to ensure lessons are learned from contentious deaths' and that this was of paramount importance both to bereaved families and the wider public interest.
The Minister has listened and made substantially different proposals that should lead to greater accountability of both corporate and public bodies involved in preventable fatalities. The effectiveness of the proposal will be in its implementation.
It is of crucial importance that parliamentary time is found to introduce a new Coroner's Reform Bill - without these measures the system will continue to fail both families and the public." - Co-Directors of INQUEST.
