07 October 2002

Bereaved Families meet Coroners Review Team

Over a dozen families, bereaved by a work-related death, are meeting the Home office’s Coroner’s Review Team to voice their concerns about its proposal to stop automatic inquests into work-related deaths.

"It is crucial that families do not lose their right to have an automatic inquest. It is the only opportunity for families to hear in detail how the death took place, hear live evidence from witnesses and ask questions themselves. It also allows some form of independent scrutiny of the criminal investigation process," said Ann Jones, mother of Simon Jones who died on his first day at work who will be present at the meeting.

The current law requires a coroner to hold a jury inquest into all officially reported work-related deaths.

In 2000/01 there were 438 offically reported work-related deaths.

To read more about the law and procedures of inquests as it relates to work-related deaths, click here

The Coroner’s Review team is proposing a removal of both:
• the right to a jury and;
• a right to an inquest itself.

It does not provide any justification for this proposed change other than the fact that "some" coroners thought that inquests into work-related deaths were not necessary.

To read what the Coroners Review says about work-related Deaths, Click Here
.
To download the Coroner's Review Team's consultation document, Click Here (PDF)

"The Coroners Rules have long provided for inquests into all work related deaths because the inquest is the only public forum in which to explore what has gone wrong to cause a preventable death. As the Health and Safety Executive investigates in private and often produces reports long afterwards, if the right to an inquest is removed these deaths will go largely unremarked and unrecorded with a consequent lack of employer accountability." said Louise Christian, a solicitor whose book on inquests is published this week and who will be present at the meeting.

The Coroner’s Review has suggested that coroners would have the discretion to decide to hold an inquest which will take into account family’s wishes.

"Our experience with working with bereaved families is that coroners generally use their discretion in a conservative manner. Why should recently bereaved families have to argue with coroners that they want an inquest?" said David Bergman of the Centre for Corporate Accountability which runs a Work-Related Death Advice Service.

The meeting with a Coroner’s Review Team takes place at 3pm on Wednesday 9 October.

It is taking place immediately after a meeting held by the TUC, the Centre for Corporate Accountability, and INQUEST which brings together safety groups, trade unions, lawyers and bereaved families to discuss the coroner’ review.

For Further information contact 020 7490 4494

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1. Legal Action Group books published a book on "Inquests - a practitioner’s guide" on 1 October 2002. It is written by Leslie Thomas, Danny Friedman and Louise Christian. For further details contact 020 7833 7424. To download a flyer, click here (for word) or here (for PDF)
   
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