The government has announced that it plans to give coroners greater powers to make sure lessons are learned from workplace deaths.

At the moment coroners have the power to make reports to public or private sector organisations about what preventative actions could help avoid repeat incidents.

But the draft Coroners Bill includes new powers which will enable:

• Coroners to require organisations to respond to their reports and say what actions will be taken to prevent future deaths




• The coroner to request a written response to his or her report within a specified timeframe and there will be a legal obligation for organisations to respond.

The bill provides for the appointment of a chief coroner who will monitor the reports made and responses received. An annual report of the responses will be made to the Lord Chancellor and laid before the House of Commons.

Constitutional affairs minister Harriet Harman said: “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.”

A similar system has been successful in Australia where the state coroner in Victoria believes it has saved lives and claims that recommendations have led to legislative and policy changes in cases involving pedestrian safety in the workplace and tractor roll-overs.

Co-directors of INQUEST Helen Shaw and Deborah Coles said: “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.”