The three men died after collapsing during exercises on Pen y Fan. Photo: Kenneth Yarham CC-BY-SA-2.0

The Ministry of Defence has been told to change its selection procedures for SAS members after the deaths of three reservists in the Brecon Beacons.

Lance Corporal Craig Roberts, Corporal James Dunsby and Edward Maher all collapsed during the exercise on the south Wales mountains in July in temperatures of more than 30C.

The Health and Safety Executive has served a crown improvement notice on the MoD. The military are exempt from improvement and enforcement notices under the Health and Safety at Work Act, but MoD said it is implementing the recommendations in the non-statutory notice.

The HSE said the Army failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment during the SAS selection test and did not take action to address heat illness during the gruelling test on Pen y Fan, the highest mountain in south Wales.

An HSE spokesperson said: “HSE has issued a crown improvement notice on the Ministry of Defence following the deaths of three Army reservists while on selection tests on the Brecon Beacons in July.

“The notice requires the ministry to take action to deal with risks arising from its military selection exercises.

“HSE continues to investigate the deaths, supporting Dyfed Powys Police which is leading the investigation.”

An MoD spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with the families of those who died on this exercise.

“We have co-operated fully with the Health and Safety Executive inspectors and are implementing all the recommendations in the crown improvement notice.

“As the incident is still subject to a police and MoD investigation it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

Pen y Fan is the venue for the gruelling ‘Fan Dance’ test which involves a double ascent of the 886m (2,907ft) mountain.