PILOT DEATHS - WHAT THEY DON'T TELL YOU
CHRISTINE STANDING
April 2005
What does a family do when a healthy young man, without a family history of heart disease, suddenly dies of a heart attack? What if he has tolerated poor working conditions? What if various studies demonstrate that coronary heart disease is probable under certain working conditions - and that the airline, the Civil Aviation Authority, Health and Safety Executive knows about this but ignores it?
The questions raised by families where there has been a death at work are endless. There is no official body that is available to answer these questions. Sudden death in particular can involve shock and disbelief - just at the time when you need answers.
My experience is that the airline will not help, indeed may induce further shock. At this time, (2005) the Civil Aviation Authority will resist attempts to gain information. This is what they don't tell you:
THE PROTOCOL ON WORK RELATED DEATHS
This document is signed by the Health and Safety Executive, the Association of Chief Police Officers, British Transport Police and the Crown Prosecution Service. The aviation Regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, (CAA), is not a signatory to this protocol but has "agreed to abide by the protocol's principles." Instead, the CAA and HSE have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding. (MoU) The police have "an interest in establishing the circumstances surrounding a work-related death in order to assist the coroner's inquest."
The underlying principles of this protocol are as follows:
- an appropriate decision concerning prosecution will be made based on a sound investigation of the circumstances surrounding work-related deaths;
- the police will conduct an investigation where there is an indication of the commission of a serious criminal offence (other than a health and safety offence), and HSE, the local authority or other enforcing authority will investigate health and safety offences.
- There will usually be a joint investigation, but on the rare occasions where this would not be appropriate, there will still be liaison and co-operation between the investigating parties;
- the decision to prosecute will be co-ordinated, and made without undue delay;
- the bereaved and witnesses will be kept suitably informed;
- and the parties to the protocol will maintain effective mechanisms for liaison.
To download a copy of this click here.
The Protocol on Work-Related deaths makes it clear that a decision whether a death was work-related or not comes from a consensus arising from liaison between the agencies, not by one uninformed individual within any one of these agencies.
What is a bereaved family to do when the CAA refuses to abide by the principles in this document? As usual, the voluntary approach of the CAA allows the aviation industry privilege. So, one answer to abuse of privilege is to approach, as soon as possible, The Centre for Corporate Accountability. This organization provides free and independent advice on safety, law enforcement and corporate criminal accountability issues to families (and their Trade Unions and lawyers), bereaved from work-related death, on corporate criminal accountability issues. (They also provide advice on corporate accountability issues arising from injuries sustained at work.)
Contact details:
Centre for Corporate Accountability
4th Floor,
197/199 City Road
London EC1V 1JN
Tel: 020 7 490 4494
Fax: 020 7 490 7191
www.corporateaccountability.org
If you want to discuss this document in total confidentiality, leave a phone number at chris@aviationwatch.co.uk