Leading Sheffield Lawyer Welcomes Changes to Coroners Rules

Rule 43 changes for coroners

A leading Sheffield lawyer has welcomed amendments to the rules governing the way in which Coroners report their findings which came into force on 17th July 2008.

David Urpeth, Partner with Sheffield based law firm Irwin Mitchell, believes the amendments will give greater prominence and importance to coroner reports reducing the number of avoidable fatalities that occur each year.

Rule 43 provides coroners with the power to make reports to a person or organisation where the coroner believes that action should be taken to prevent future deaths, the changes announced today will ensure these reports are recorded and responded to.

David Urpeth said: “Problems with the old rule included the fact that there was no obligation for those receiving a rule 43 letter to respond. Sadly this meant that some organisations simply ignored them. The amended rule introduces a new statutory duty for organisations to respond.  However I am disappointed that currently no sanctions can be imposed by coroners if a recipient of a letter fails to respond.

"There was also no central record kept of rule 43 letters and responses, so trends were not spotted. The Lord Chancellor will now receive copies of all reports and responses enabling trends to be identified."

Some coroners have shared reports with organisations who could improve safety standards and others have not. The new rules go a long way to ensure that all reports are shared so that lessons can be learned following a death.

Mr Urpeth added: "All too often I represent clients who have been killed in work accidents, accidents on the road or accidents in public places in circumstances that could and should have been avoided. I hope and believe that this new rule will make a real difference that we will see a reduction in the numbers of people tragically killed in such circumstances."