Despite construction union UCATT claiming there was a rise in prosecution delays and fall in convictions following construction deaths last week, the HSE has responded to highlight that prosecutions have actually risen from 92% in 2010/2011 to 94% in 2014/15.
UCATT had cited data that was included in a current Parliamentary Question response by HSE to Jarrow MP Stephen Hepburn. The reduction referred to within the UCATT claim pertains to the numbers of fatalities in development for which prosecutions have been accepted. The share of fatalities resulting in a call to prosecute in the same year will likely be lower in more recent years as a variety of complex investigations will nonetheless be on-going or are progressing by way of the courts. The variety of prosecution approvals also needs to be seen towards an overall reduction in building fatalities from over 100 in 2000/01 to 39 in 2014/15.
All workplace fatalities should be investigated completely to forestall a recurrence and so that where breaches of health and safety requirements are identified then those that have failed are held to account which can include instances before the courts in England and Wales, or recommending prosecution in Scotland. HSE doesn’t prosecute in each case and can take account of the evidential stage and the related public interest elements set down by the Code for Crown Prosecutors. In Scotland the Procurator Fiscal decides whether or not to deliver a prosecution.
Quite a few discrete levels will have an effect on the tempo at which a work-related fatality is investigated and legal proceedings pursued. The police assume primacy for investigations initially and retain the case until negligent offences have been recognised or eradicated. In complicated instances it may be a number of months before HSE is handed primacy. Until HSE brings a prosecution it’s usually essential to await the result of a Coroner’s inquest. Once a defendant has been charged it will possibly take a while for the case to return to trial, significantly where it’s defended and heard within the Crown Court.
Nevertheless, HSE and the other agencies concerned in investigating workplace fatalities recognise the significance to victims of guaranteeing all levels of the investigation and prosecution process are concluded rapidly. The Work Related Deaths Protocol (WRDP) National Liaison Committee not too long ago agreed that any choice to prosecute must be made inside three years of the date of death, apart from in exceptional circumstances.
Recently, the drive to scale back investigation time and conclude lengthy operating investigations, HSE has in recent times concluded a number of advanced investigations. This has meant average time taken between an incident and a prosecution approval has increased in the latest years, however different information supplied in response to Parliamentary Questions shows that during the last 10-years, 23% of instances had been accepted for prosecution inside a year of a fatality, 27% within the second year, and 30% within the third. Therefore 80% of HSE prosecutions have been authorised throughout the WRDP three-year interval. This proportion is still rising.
Note that there’s an error within the UCATT data as it states that 30% of instances didn’t reach the prosecution stage until between three to four years after an employee’s demise. The PQ responses confirmed that only 15% of circumstances took between three and four years to reach this stage.
The data UCATT has used to incorrectly suggest the “fall in convictions” is above. This pertains to prosecutions authorised following fatalities in any given 12 months. The quantity within the third column pertains to the quantity within the second column, and not to fatals in earlier years. Therefore, in 2014/15 of the 39 fatals, approved prosecutions in seven of these circumstances within the same 12 months. Therefore the observed percentage reduction in recent times is due to on-going (ie longer than one year) investigations.
