Nobody wants it to happen but it does, and it has to be managed. Kristina Smith outlines the usual run of events after a fatal incident and how you need to respond
In January, PC Harrington worker Patrick O'Sullivan died on Multiplex's Wembley site. It happens on projects large and small. A life is cut short. Loved ones are devastated. A pall is cast over the job. If you could turn back time you would, but you can't, so it's important to know who you'll be dealing with in the hours, days, months and years after the incident.

  • The inspectors
    After the ambulance has arrived, the police and two HSE inspectors will come on site and agree how they will work together on the investigation. The police will tape off the incident area and any plant and equipment involved, and collect names and contact details of witnesses. One HSE inspector is likely to take photographs and measurements, whilst the other one deals with witnesses. Only those who may move on quickly are interviewed immediately, says HSE inspector Alec Ferguson: "It's so fresh that they cannot put things into perspective. To interview them would add to their shock and distress."

    As well as eyewitnesses, the police and/or HSE will ask a foreman or supervisor to explain what the dead person was doing and speak to various levels of management to ask what safe systems of working are in place. This process is likely to take one to two months.

    The HSE will also make immediate recommendations. For example, if a piece of equipment has failed they will look over the certificates and check procedures with management. Sometimes kit is taken away to HSE's special yard at East Grinstead to be examined. Depending on the nature of the death, other experts may be called in to do forensic examinations.

  • The family
    It normally falls to the police to visit the dead person's family to tell them that their husband or son is not coming home, but it may be an opportunity for the company to start sharing the family's pain by conveying the news themselves. This may be more humane, especially if contact is maintained.

    Tony O'Brien, secretary of the Construction Safety Campaign, says that loved ones often receive a message of condolence and then never hear from the company again, even though their trauma is just beginning. Amanda Kesterton had a mental breakdown and lost her job after her 16-year-old son Christopher was killed when a steel column fell on him in November 2000. ( See the results of this prosecution on page 20.) The law says she won't receive compensation because she wasn't a dependant.

  • The workers
    You will have to close the site immediately for the rest of the day and probably the whole of the next as a mark of respect. It is unusual for contractors to provide bereavement counselling, but Ferguson recommends it because it helps deal with the stress everyone will be feeling.

    Barry Winbolt, head of clinical practice at Personal Performance Consultants (PPC), says employees should be offered counselling within 72 hours.

    You should also move grieving workers from the accident area to other sites to minimise the effect on morale and productivity, according to John Thoday, managing director of The Health and Safety People.

  • The directors
    You may have to carry out an investigation yourself because your company directors and the insurance company will want to know who is to blame and how to avoid the same thing happening again. Larger firms may use their own safety manager or an external consultant. Your own company's health and safety procedure should set down who does what in such an investigation. In practice, says Thoday, detail is usually skimpy.

    As well as talking to witnesses and looking at physical circumstances, an internal investigation will create an audit trail.

  • The judge
    If there is the suspicion that a serious criminal offence (other than a health and safety offence) has caused the death, the police will lead the inquiry. Otherwise the HSE will, often under the Health and Safety at Work Act. If the police investigate they will submit a report to the Crown Prosecution Service who will decide if there is a criminal case. If not, the HSE continues its investigation.

    For a charge of manslaughter to be brought there must be evidence of gross negligence and a breach of a duty of care. Manslaughter cases are rare, says Ferguson, since even if gross negligence can be proved, duty of care cannot.

    Directors are unlikely to appear in the dock (see 'Contract Killing', June 2003, for directors' legal position). When the case comes to court – often as much as five years later - individuals and companies are more likely to be fined under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

    Fines for individuals are kept to a few thousand pounds. Companies, however, can be fined in the hundreds of thousands. As an employee, the cost of legal representation will probably be covered under your firm's insurance, either professional indemnity or contractor's all risk. Fines will not be covered.

    • Source

    Construction Manager