Page 6 - Best Practice in Travel Risk Management 2019 - Forum Findings

The Future of Travel Risk Forum by beTravelwise
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Tips on how to respond to incidents
When dealing with an unfortunate incident you will get a call when you least expect it but from that moment take things seriously, says Parry. Many people end up in court because of a lack of application at that stage; humble co-operation with the investigator is the
best course.
Invariably when there is a serious incident, there will be a safety breach. The best breach for prosecutors to pursue is the inadequacy of the written risk assessment. If the risk assessment had been sufficient and the training properly followed the incident probably would not
have occurred.
Preserve the evidence and remember that witnesses in shock may not recall things accurately. File a report with the Health and Safety Executive. Keep it brief and accurate. It could be used against you if it is not accurate.
Preliminary conversations will be recorded. Prepare for interviews. You don’t have to answer questions. A good thing to do is to go to the
interview and present the inspector with a prepared statement, a carefully drafted version of what happened.
Bear in mind what points you may want to use in defence or mitigation. Good legal advice at an early stage is worthwhile.
Section 20 of the Act obliges you to cooperate with the inspector. Don’t do an internal inquiry. At an early stage make sure your paperwork is in order. Do get employees to sign that they have been trained.
Beware email chains, especially where someone says we should have done this and we might have done that, it is a rich seam of information for prosecutors
While not covering jurisdiction in detail, Parry says there are two things to bear in mind. First, an English coroner will always take jurisdiction over any death of a British citizen anywhere in the world. Second, the Americans will always take jurisdiction over the dollar. Sepp Blatter would have been safe if he had taken his bribes in Swiss francs!