Soldier died on gruelling march after life-saving heat gauge was put in the shade
A SOLDIER died during an endurance exercise because a temperature gauge used to assess the danger to troops on hot days gave low readings after being placed in the shade, an inquest has heard.
The wet bulb globe test meter (WBGT) underestimated the temperature by at least 2C just before Corporal Joshua Hoole, 26, set off on the eight- mile march which killed him in July 2016.
An accurate temperature would have caused the march, during which other squaddies collapsed unconscious, to be cancelled on safety grounds, experts said.
Remarkably, it also emerged that military and civilian police and the Health and Safety Executive failed to notice the wrongful positioning of the WBGT in their investigations into Cpl Hoole’s death.
This shocking oversight meant the WBGT continued to give inaccurate readings for two-and-a-half years – in which time hundreds of troops set off on marches from the same base in temperatures likely to have exceeded the Army’s heat injury prevention limit of 20C.
The error at Dering Lines barracks in the Brecon Beacons was spotted by an academic who had been asked by coroner Louise Hunt to give expert evidence on heat injuries. She alerted the Defence Secretary in January this year.
Cpl Hoole, from Ecclefechan, Dumfries and Galloway, was just 400 yards from the end of the course when he rapidly fell back through a pack of soldiers before complaining of cramps and collapsing.
The experienced soldier, from the 1st Battalion, the Rifles Regiment, was pronounced dead less than an hour later. In total, 18 out of the 41 soldiers dropped out, collapsed or were withdrawn by instructors.
The inquest in Birmingham was told by Professor George Havenith, from Loughborough University, that the WBGT meter – which measures temperature, humidity, wind and sun conditions – produced an ‘erroneous’ low result because it was in the shade of the base’s gym building. He added: ‘The WBGT said the temperature before the march was 17.1C but actually it was already 19.6C. If measured appropriately the predicted temperature for the duration of the two-hour march would undoubtedly have exceeded the [safety] criteria.’
Cpl Hoole’s death came three years after three SAS reservists died in the Brecon Beacons due to heat-induced injuries. An inquest into their deaths revealed a catalogue of mistakes in the planning and execution of the march, while the rescue operation was chaotic.
The inquest continues.