Calum Steele’s article discusses the Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the deaths of Katie Allan and William Brown at Polmont ("Endless inquiries won’t prevent more tragedies like those of Katie Allan or William Brown", The Herald, January 22). It highlights past failure to learn lessons from FAIs.

He echoes the findings from the House of Lord’s Report on “Public Inquiries: Enhancing Public Trust” (September 2024) calling for public inquiries to be more effective. It recommended that the Public Inquiries Committee should monitor and report on the steps being taken to implement inquiry recommendations. The reference to the inquest report last week into the death of the teacher Ruth Perry resonates too, calling for Prevention of Deaths Notices issued by the coroner to be implemented.

With all investigations into deaths, whether FAIs, inquests or public inquiries, their lasting effect depends on the implementation of recommendations made which are not currently mandatory. These deaths may have been thoroughly investigated and their conclusions sound but without requiring mandatory change, society fails to learn and evolve.

Calum Steele’s challenge to readers to name 10 high-profile FAIs is in some ways more interesting. His point about societal memory is valid. These headline-grabbing FAIs capture attention, albeit briefly. With time passing, there may still be recall of Ibrox, Dunblane and Lockerbie though readers may not be able to name what change these effected. Respectively, they resulted in safer sports stadiums, tighter gun control and more secure airport luggage handling processes.

However some readers may remember the fire........

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