Officer in fatal march says he lacked health and safety training

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/16/officer-fatal-march-says-lacked-health-safety-training-joshua-hoole

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An experienced army officer who oversaw a course during which a soldier fatally collapsed on a hot summer day has told an inquest he had been given no formal health and safety training.

Cpl Joshua Hoole, 26, died within an hour of collapsing on an annual fitness test (AFT) in Brecon, south Wales, in July 2016. Three years earlier, three army reservists sustained fatal heat illness during an SAS selection march in the Brecon Beacons.

Capt Colin Nufer, who has served in the armed forces for more than 30 years, told the inquest at Birmingham coroner’s court he took a “commonsense” approach to assessing whether a march should be stopped because of health and safety concerns.

Nufer, who was the officer commanding (OC) of the training team, which ran the AFT, refused to answer some questions from a barrister for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), saying he did not trust the people the lawyer represented.

The inquest was told Nufer signed off a risk assessment for the march, and he was asked by the senior coroner Louise Hunt about his understanding of a key army health and safety document known as JSP 539, which addresses the topic of heat injuries.

Nufer said he had been given no formal training on JSP 539, although he had read a copy after it was referred to in an internal email in 2016 after the three reservists’ deaths.

“I did know it existed – I wasn’t familiar with it, and I wasn’t trained to interpret it,” Nufer said. He applied his experience and the advice of others as to whether an activity such as an AFT should be stopped.

When the coroner asked who he believed was in charge of the AFT march, he said it was the physical training instructor, Rifleman Keith Macguire. Nufer added that the PTI had been “content” with the risk assessment before the march set off.

Nufer was also asked about the requirement to check a key temperature gauge, the wet-bulb globe thermometer (WGBT), before setting out on the AFT.

The inquest has heard exercises should neither start nor be continued if the gauge measuring heat and humidity, which was located outside a gym at the army base in Brecon, hits 20C (68F).

When questioned by Hunt as to whether he had checked the WBGT before heading out, Nufer replied “no”, adding: “When we arrived, I encouraged the PTI to touch base with the gym and I assume that is what he did.”

Asked if he had been aware of the 20C limit, Nufer said he was unsure and relied on the PTI to assess that, as he was the “subject matter expert”.

“In absolute honesty, I was unsure of what those limits were and I rely on the SME as to what, where and how those limits apply. There are too many variations around what those limits were, so I trusted the SME,” he said.

When questioned by the MoD barrister, Dijen Basu QC, Nufer began by saying: “I wish to assist the inquiry but I’m going to find it very difficult to answer. I don’t trust him or the people he represents.”

Nufer then responded to nearly every one of Basu’s questions with: “I’m sorry sir, I will not answer your questions.”