The Scout Association faced problems with health and safety training, risk assessments and a lack of “robust regulation”, a coroner has found following the death of a teenager in Wales.
Ben Leonard, 16, died in August 2018 while on a Scouts trip to Yr Wyddfa, also known as Snowdon.
Leonard, from Stockport, Manchester, separated from his group with two other boys before falling off a cliff edge and suffering fatal head injuries.
A spokesperson for The Scout Association said the charity had already made changes to its procedures and would do everything in its power to “stop such a tragic event happening again”.
A six-week inquest into Leonard’s death concluded last week as two juries were discharged due to issues with evidence.
Assistant coroner David Pojur released a prevention of future deaths report after the conclusion of the inquest.
In the report, he said: “The lives of young people are being put at risk by the Scout Association’s failure to recognise the inadequacies of their operational practice and the part this has played in the death of Ben.”
The court heard that on the trip, three scout leaders assumed the boys who had broken off from the group were with a leader when in fact they were not.
Jurors also heard that safety policies “exist but are not implemented” and there were no written or dynamic risk assessments.
The Scout Association is subject to regulatory oversight from the Charity Commission but Pojur’s report said further independent regulation was required.
“There is no robust regulator who independently and periodically audits and inspects the systems, processes and training of the Scout Association or the granting of permits for adventurous activities, hill walking and nights away permits,” he said.
“Further, the Scout Association permit scheme for adventurous activities is exempt from regulation by the Health and Safety Executive.”
Three leaders and eight explorer scouts went on the trip to Wales and, upon arrival, the assistant explorer scout leader took the explorer scouts on an “unplanned” three-hour hike without the other leaders.
The following day’s plan of going up the mountain was rearranged due to poor weather conditions, with the group going to the town of Llandudno instead, the coroner found.
After breakfast, the explorer scout leader and his son left to move his car. The two other leaders and remaining Scouts walked through the town towards the Great Orme, the headland just outside the town. There was no brief, instructions or written risk assessment, the coroner concluded.
The group then proceeded up the Great Orme, led by the assistant explorer scout leader.
After Leonard and the two other scouts broke off, the assistant scout leader paused and separated from the remaining scouts, later spotting Leonard and the others near the summit.
The report said: “The assistant explorer scout leader did not give any instructions to regroup, or to stay on the safe path. Ben and the two other scouts were left unsupervised and proceeded to walk to the cliff edge.”
A fatal accident inquiry panel report had not been produced as of 22 February, which the coroner found particularly concerning.
He said: “Without a timely internal fatal accident inquiry panel investigation report this gives me great concern that issues of safety and safeguarding are not properly considered, transparently engaged with and then addressed formally in respect of a child fatality.”
Another point of concern was Pojur described as the “superficial” nature of The Scout Association’s safety training.
The training is done online and can be “completed in 12 minutes”.
The coroner said: “This causes concern as an introductory module needed to equip thousands of leaders with an understanding of how to complete a risk assessment in order to keep Scouts safe.
“It does not embed the fundamental principles of safety and safe scouting.”
The 8,000 branches within The Scout Association and different layers of hierarchy within these branches caused the coroner to believe the charity “cannot know how health and safety is executed at ground level”.
Jurors heard of an absence of a permanent district commander overseeing the group’s leaders, no “meaningful discussion” between group leaders as to planning the trip and leaders not having a participant list or list of phone numbers for the boys.
A spokesperson for The Scout Association said: “As a result of Ben’s tragic death in 2018, we have already made many changes to our risk assessments, safety rules, training and support we give our volunteers.
“We will closely review the coroner’s observations and adopt all further changes we can, to do everything in our power to stop such a tragic event happening again.
“We emphatically refute allegations made in court about any criminal action on behalf of The Scout Association.”
The Scout Association has until 18 April to respond to the report.