§ Dr. GodmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many fatal accident inquiries have been held into fatalities in the workplace in each of the past 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [27310]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe Crown Office does not hold records centrally of the number of fatalities in the workplace which were subsequently the subject of a fatal accident inquiry. An inquiry must be held in the case of a death which appears to have resulted from an accident while the person who has died, being an employee, was in the course of his employment or, being an employer or self-employed person, was engaged in his occupation as such, unless criminal proceedings have been concluded against any person in respect of the death or any accident from which the death resulted and the Lord Advocate is satisfied that the circumstances of the death have been sufficiently established in the course of such proceedings. In the past 10 years the Health and Safety Executive has received notification of 298 deaths in the workplace in Scotland.