Army censured over cadet death

Many fatal accidents have happened at the spot

The Army has been heavily criticised over the death of a trainee soldier who drowned in a notoriously dangerous pool on an army training course.

The 17-year-old panicked and drowned in the Porth yr Ogof cave complex in the Brecon Beacons National Park.

His employers were never prosecuted because of Crown Immunity.

But the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has now censured the Army, saying there had been repeated failings.

Kevin Sharman, 17, from Derbyshire, was an apprentice tradesman on a training exercise in Ystradfellte, near Brecon, in July 2002.

He was one of a group of trainees taken to the underground cave complex on the first day of an adventurous training course.

An inquest into his death heard that he was a non-swimmer, and had panicked and drowned as he was led through the deep waters of a partially-submerged tunnel.

Civilian instructor Matthew Doubtfire, 33, from Monmouth, south Wales, was cleared of manslaughter. At a Crown censure in Cardiff on Tuesday, the HSE said that the Army failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk of drowning presented by caving.

The trainee soldier could not swim

It also said the Army failed to identify and implement effective control measures and failed to carry out adequate monitoring - which were requirements laid down in the MOD Health and Safety Handbook.

Crown censure is an administrative process which HSE follows in cases which cannot be heard in a court of law because the body involved has immunity from prosecution.

During the hearing it was said that, as a result of failings by the Army, employees were exposed to "a significant risk to their safety".

It was noted, however, that the Army had co-operated fully with HSE during the investigation and had taken remedial action.

This included modifying the caving risk assessment to include additional measures to reduce the risk of drowning. An Inspector of Adventurous Training had also been appointed.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Sally Nicholson said : "We believe that there were significant failings, as outlined, that led to Kevin Sharman's death but are pleased to note the actions taken to reduce the risk of a similar occurrence."