Army accident immunity 'must end'

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Families of soldiers killed or maimed in non-combat incidents are calling for the MoD to lose its immunity to prosecution over health and safety.

Serious failings are going unpunished leading to dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries each year, according to relatives.

Compensation payments are costing taxpayers millions of pounds a year.

The MoD says it learns lessons from accidents and continually strives to improve health and safety performance.

But critics believe Crown immunity is preventing defence officials from being properly held to account for its poor health and safety record.

Medical discharge

The British military is killing more servicemen and women off the battlefield than are being lost in enemy action. Thousands more were injured, many of them seriously, according to the most recent publicly available figures.

The MoD and the armed forces, like other major employers, are continually striving to improve our health and safety performance Ministry of Defence

More than £75m has been paid out in personal injury compensation in the past three years.

Many of the non-combat incidents occur as a result of training and vehicle accidents, equipment failure or as a result of adventure training.

One of the most common is cold weather injuries caused by exposure to very low temperatures which can cause severe pains in soldiers' limbs.

More than 300 cases were reported last year, many resulting in soldiers being discharged medically unfit.

Crown immunity

The 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act, which is meant to cover all employees, also applies to the armed forces.

However, the MoD is exempt from criminal prosecution for serious breaches of the rules through a privilege called Crown immunity.

Instead, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the body charged with overseeing workplace safety, issue what are known as Crown censures

A Five Live Report investigation has established the MoD has been issued with 14 Crown censures in the last seven years, the equivalent of two court convictions a year had they not enjoyed immunity from prosecution.

Unlike the MoD, private companies face prosecution and often heavy punitive fines for similar serious breaches of health and safety.

Live ammunition

In one case a censure was issued for the killing of Wayne Richards, 17, from Cwmavon, south Wales.

Mr Richards, who joined the Royal Marines straight from school, was killed near his training base in Devon in 2000.

Families have campaigned over deaths at Deepcut barracks

Mr Richards was shot twice by live ammunition fired during an attack and evade exercise, despite the fact that only blank ammunition was meant to be used.

A number of safeguards designed to stop live and blank ammo being mixed up - such as live ammo being kept in bright red magazines and blanks in black ones - failed to stop the confusion and Mr Richards' death.

In a statement to the programme, the Ministry of Defence said: "The MoD and the armed forces, like other major employers, are continually striving to improve our health and safety performance.

"Lessons are learned when incidents occur. They are taken extremely seriously. A key feature of the Crown censure process is to explain to the HSE what we have done since the incident to improve safety procedures.

"The armed forces place great emphasis on proper training, which is a key to safe performance."

'Serious breaches'

But solicitor Hilary Meredith, who represents thousands of soldiers and their families, says the MoD is failing in its duty of care towards British servicemen and women.

"I think many members of the armed forces accept that if they are in wartime situation and they are either injured or killed then that's part and parcel of their employment," she said.

Because of Crown immunity they just seem to think they can get away with anything Lynn Farr,Mother of dead soldier

"But if they are on manoeuvres or training or even on adventure training they don't expect to be injured or killed."

Ms Meredith believes it is time to strip the MoD of Crown immunity.

"If there are no sanctions that are then put in place if something goes wrong there is hardly anything there to push the MoD to improve their standards," she said.

"Without a means to prosecution they are going to be more reactive to things happening rather than proactive.

"Crown immunity should be removed and sanctions must be imposed where there are serious breaches of health and safety regulations."

'Not accountable'

Lynn Farr, who says her son Daniel died as a result of an incident sustained while in the Army, backed the call for an end to Crown immunity.

She said: "Health and safety issues will go by the by with anybody in a war scenario. But I think in training health and safety should be adhered to more than it is."

Ms Farr, part of the Deepcut and Beyond campaign group which consists of over 50 families of soldiers who have died in non-combat situations, believes the military hides behind Crown immunity.

"Because of Crown immunity they just seem to think they can get away with anything," she said.

"They're not accountable. What is Crown censure? It's just like a ticking off. These incidents keep happening so no changes are ever really made. They never learn by their mistakes."

The MoD says individuals in the armed forces are still liable for their own culpable negligence and argues there is a real fear among military commanders that removal of Crown immunity will progressively lead to the development of "a systemic culture of risk aversion in respect of carrying out military training".

<i>Five Live Report: Soldiers of Misfortune is on Sunday 4 November at 1100GMT or hear the podcast at the </i><a class="inlineText" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/fivelivereport.shtml">Five Live Report </a><i> website.</i>