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TOWARDS A NEW CZECH APPROACH TO THE INVESTIGATION OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS CAUSES
Abstract
Industrial accidents, including major accidents involving hazardous chemicals, continue to occur around the world, and the trend, for example according to European Commission statistics, is not particularly downward. It is well known that the consequences of industrial accidents on human health and life, property and environmental components can be devastating. What may not always be identified, however, are the potential causes and possibly the culprits. It should be good practice for the process of identifying the causes and culprits of industrial accidents to involve the interaction and cooperation, not competition, of several stakeholders and institutions (police, fire brigade, occupational safety inspectorate, industrial enterprises, invited experts), depending on the specific legal and national environment. This paper deals with the authors' previous practice and cooperation with the Police of the Czech Republic in the field of investigation, proposing a new systematic approach to the investigation of the causes of industrial accidents involving hazardous substances, trying to cover potential gaps in the existing process, including the necessary annexes and supporting materials. In cooperation with selected commissioners of the Police of the Czech Republic, a new methodology for determining the causes and investigation of industrial accidents was proposed, respecting the current new knowledge and techniques in the field of criminalistics and expert activities. The draft methodology was also created in accordance with traditional Czech criminalistic practice and methodology, the Czech Criminal Procedure Code (no. 141/1961 Coll.), the Criminal Code (no. 40/2009 Coll.) and last but not least the relatively new Czech Act on Experts (no. 254/2019 Coll.).
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