Zoom Lectures. Lecture One. An essential guide to the law and practice of inquests arising from deaths in healthcare in the light of COVID 19. Lecture Two. Sentencing in Fire Safety Offences

Lecture One: An essential guide to the law & practice of inquests arising from deaths in healthcare in the light of COVID 19

The emergency created by COVID 19 is likely to have a profound impact on the Coroner’s Court. In addition, recent appellate decisions, including Parkinson and Childlow, have created uncertainty as to the scope of inquiries into deaths arising in the healthcare sector. This seminar provides practitioners with a concise survey of the developing law and procedure in this contentious area including:

• Summary of the Chief Coroner’s Guidance concerning COVID 19 and impact
• Summary of European and E&W case law
• When A2 ECHR is or is not engaged
• Use of juries
• When expert evidence on causation should be admitted
• Sample directions on inquest conclusions

Lecture Two: Sentencing in Fire Safety Offences

Practitioners will know that prosecutions arising from inadequate fire safety measures are increasing and so is the tariff. It is thus more important than ever to conduct a rigorous and realistic assessment of any likely sentence at an early stage. But with fire safety excluded from the Definitive Guideline, and with a new General Guideline for non-guideline offences having been published only very recently, sentencing of these cases remains something of an anomaly.

In the post-Grenfell climate, this seminar provides an essential and practical guide to dealing with fire safety enforcement and sentencing, including:

• The relevance of the new General Guideline and how to make use of it;
• Disputing culpability and risk of harm in fire cases, and the need for a Newton hearing to resolve those disputes (following the Court of Appeal dicta in R v Montaut [2019] EWCA Crim 2252)
• Trends in sentencing of fire safety offences
• The scope for reform post-Grenfell

Speakers

Tim Green is ranked as band 1 counsel by Chambers UK 2020 for health & safety law and environmental work.  Tim has been a member of Attorney General’s A Panel of approved regulatory advocates since 2012, regularly provides CPD training for HSLA and has a very substantial practice in coronial law and inquiry work.

Elizabeth Tremayne is an experienced regulatory practitioner, instructed in health, safety & environmental prosecutions and civil claims, inquests and inquiries. She is familiar with advising and representing clients prosecuted by enforcing authorities throughout investigation and the court process in a range of sectors including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, construction, transport and technology, as well as public bodies. She regularly advises and represents corporates and individuals as IPs throughout coronial investigations and in proceedings, in particular in acutely sensitive cases

Rachel Tandy is a barrister at Henderson Chambers specialising in product liability and health and safety, with a particular focus on fire damage. She acted as junior counsel for the second (subcontractor) defendant in the prosecution following the explosion at the Chevron oil refinery in Pembrokeshire, and is on the HSE’s list of Specialist Regulatory Advocates.

THIS IS A MEMBERS ONLY EVENT AND IT IS FREE TO HSLA MEMBERS.