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Maldon District Council has recently expressed their concern with the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) in relation to the Council investigating the tragic incident at Blackwater Leisure Centre on Saturday 14th June. This concern was raised by Council’s Solicitor as the Council is not only responsible for the investigation, as agreed by the Health & Safety Executive, but also undertakes a contract monitoring role in relation to the Leisure Connection contract. It was felt therefore, that this could be viewed as a conflict of interest both by the Council and the general public. In a letter to the Health and Safety Executive, the Council’s Solicitor wished to seek confirmation from the Health & Safety Executive’s lawyers that they were happy for Maldon District Council to undertake the investigation in light of this concern. The Health & Safety Executive’s lawyers have confirmed that they are happy for Maldon District Council to investigate the incident and they have also agreed that they will simultaneously undertake a review of the Council’s contract monitoring of Leisure Connection. Leader of Maldon District Council, Cllr Mrs Penny Channer, said: “I am pleased that the Health & Safety Executive has agreed to our request to undertake a simultaneous review into the Council’s contract monitoring of Leisure Connection. We want to ensure that there is absolute transparency into the investigation being conducted into Michelle’s tragic death and this, I hope, will ensure that this is the case. The Council felt it was important that this issue be addressed to ensure that there was clarity of roles in the investigation”. No further comments will be made in relation to the Council’s investigation into the tragic incident as enquiries are still ongoing. I find this press release confusing and worrying. The
Council claims to have raised a concern with HSE because the general public
might perceive a conflict of interest but HSE say fine, go ahead anyway and we
will check how you monitored the contract. For the sake of argument,
let's imagine that the council was grossly negligent in its monitoring of the
contract or the enforcing of standards - would it then be acceptable for the
council to take the key role in investigating? |
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