THE Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revised its protocol on hot weather training for a third time since special forces recruits died from heat-induced illness in the Brecon Beacons.

The department released new guidelines yesterday with basic advice such as the temperature “should be measured at site of maximal heat risk” for the “entire duration of the activity.”

It is their third update to Joint Service Publication (JSP) 539, which covers the prevention of illness from heat, since the department was slammed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in 2016.

The HSE delivered its strongest possible sanction, a Crown Censure, over the deaths of SAS recruits James Dunsby, Edward Maher and Craig Roberts.

They collapsed on a gruelling selection march through the Welsh mountains in 2013, on one of the hottest days of the year.

The recruits carried GPS trackers that the army had known for years were faulty, and supervisors failed to notice when the three men stopped moving.

The HSE warned there had been a “failure to plan, assess, and manage risks associated with climatic illness during the training” and that these failings resulted in the three deaths.

An inquest gave a ruling of negligence and the coroner’s recommendations were inserted into JSP 539 in 2016.

Although soldiers are banned from joining trade unions, the TUC has been calling for a new law to restrict working in extreme heat. 

An MOD spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with the families and friends of Cpl James Dunsby, LCpl Craig Roberts and Tpr Edward Maher.
 
“The safety and wellbeing of our personnel remains our top priority and following the tragic events in 2013 we have made a number of changes, particularly in relation to heat stress and training, to ensure an incident like this does not happen again.
 
“All our Joint Service Publications are kept under constant review and the heat and illness prevention management guidelines have been updated three times since the incident in 2013.”