THE leading fire officer in Greater Manchester has denied suggestions that he failed to safeguard the health and safety of an employee who drowned in a lodge while trying to save a teenage boy.

County fire officer Barry Dixon, told a jury at Bolton Crown Court that he had spent an "incalculable" amount of hours studying documents relating to the death of firefighter Paul Metcalf at Simon's Lodge, Holcombe Brook.

He dismissed a suggestion from prosecuting counsel, Tim Horlock QC, that he had regarded health and safety issues as "irrelevant". Mr Metcalf drowned on September 5, 1999, after entering the water with a rope attached around his waist while trying to save 15-year-old Reyaz Ali.

The Health and Safety Executive has brought Greater Manchester Fire and Civil Defence Authority to court, alleging that it failed in its duty as an employer to ensure, so far as it is practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of its employees for operations in, on or near water.

Mark Turner QC, defending, asked Mr Dixon: "Do you accept that you did not look after the health and safety interests of Paul Metcalf?" Mr Dixon replied: "No, I would not."

The court heard that in the years leading up to Mr Metcalf's death, Mr Dixon had received several memos from colleagues in the Greater Manchester Fire Service regarding the improvement of employees' health and safety when carrying out water rescues.

But Mr Dixon told the jury that he did not feel it necessary to refer them to the health and safety department.

Mr Horlock said: "You are deciding what is relevant for the health and safety department to consider? It begs the question, what the health and safety department was actually for?"

Mr Dixon replied: "The real ethos of health and safety runs through the organisation and is at the forefront of our minds.

"If there were issues that we needed health and safety guidance on, I knew who to approach for that task."

At the time, a statutory policy had not been established within the service to deal with water rescues.

Two firefighters had attended training courses at Bala in Wales to become qualified in water rescue procedure.

Mr Horlock suggested that news about them successfully completing the course had not satisfactorily been relayed to other firefighters.

Proceeding