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NOTICE OF ACCIDENTS ACT 1894 - SECT 3

Power to hold formal investigation in case of serious accidents.

3. Where it appears to the Board of Trade that any accident involving loss of
life or bodily injury is of sufficient importance to require a formal
investigation of the accident, and of its causes and circumstances, the Board
may by order direct such investigation to be held, and with respect to any
such investigation the following provisions shall have effect:

(1)The Board may appoint a competent person to hold the investigation, and may
appoint any person possessing legal, medical, or special knowledge to act as
assessor in holding the investigation, and may assign to any such person such
remuneration as the Board, with the approval of the Treasury, determine:

(2)The person appointed to hold the investigation (hereinafter called the
court) shall hold the same in open court in such manner and under such
conditions as the court may think most effectual for ascertaining the causes
and circumstances of the accident, and enabling the court to make the report
in this section mentioned:

(3)The court shall have for the purpose of the investigation all the powers of
a court of summary jurisdiction when acting as a court in the exercise of its
ordinary jurisdiction, and all the powers of an inspector under the Railway
Regulation Acts, 1840 to 1889, and in addition the following powers; namely:

(a)Power to enter and inspect, or to authorise any person to enter and
inspect, any place or building the entry or inspection whereof appears to the
court requisite for the said purpose;

(b)Power, by summons signed by the court, to require the attendance of all
such persons as it thinks fit to call before it and examine for the said
purpose, and for that purpose to require answers or returns to such inquiries
as it thinks fit to make;

(c)Power to require the production of all books, papers and documents which it
considers important for the said purpose;

(d)Power to administer an oath and require any person examined to make and
sign a declaration of the truth of the statements made by him in his
examination:

(4)Every person attending as a witness before the court, and not being the
employer of the person killed or injured or in the employment of that
employer, shall be allowed such expenses as would be allowed to a witness
attending before a court of record, and in case of dispute as to the amount to
be allowed the same shall be referred by the court to a
master of the Supreme Court, who on request signed by the court shall
ascertain and certify the proper amount of the expenses:

(5)The court holding an investigation under this section shall make a report
to the Board of Trade, stating the causes of the accident and its
circumstances, and adding any observations which the court thinks right to
make, and the Board may cause any such report to be made public in such manner
as the Board think fit:

(6)The court may order any costs and expenses incurred in and about an
investigation under this section (including any remuneration payable to any
person appointed to hold the investigation or to act as assessor) to be paid
by any person summoned before it, if it finds that the accident was due to the
act or default or negligence of that person; and any such order shall, on the
application of any person entitled to the benefit thereof, be enforced by any
court of summary jurisdiction as if the costs and expenses were a penalty
imposed by the court: but subject to any such order such costs and expenses
shall be deemed to be part of the expenses of the Board of Trade in the
execution of this Act:

(7)If any person without reasonable excuse (proof whereof shall lie on him)
either fails, after having had the expenses (if any) to which he is entitled
tendered to him, to comply with any summons or requisition of a court holding
an investigation under this section, or prevents or impedes the court in the
execution of its duty, he shall for every such offence be liable, on summary
conviction, to a fine not exceeding ten pounds, and in the case of a failure
to comply with a requisition for making any return or producing any document
shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding ten pounds for
every day that such failure continues.

© 1894 Crown Copyright

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