But for the man whose task it is to identify a deceased person and determine the date, place and circumstances in which they died, attending the scene gives him a better understanding.

As a coroner, Mr Alsop is empowered to make recommendations to prevent a similar incident from occurring again, but he has no power to change laws and legislation or force governments and agencies to take action.

He said some of his ``most notable'' inquests in the last few years had related to motor collisions.

Mr Alsop, who is also a magistrate, said coronial inquests had a huge emotional impact on the family of the person who had died.

``It is a time of enormous emotional trauma because in some cases they have to listen to evidence about the details of how their loved one died,'' he said.

``Some coroners, including myself, make a practice of leaving out, or getting the witness to leave out...paragraphs of their statement if it contains details which are not going to be of assistance but are so graphic that they would cause distress.''

Mr Alsop said coronial inquests could also be emotionally draining for himself and his registrars.

``You can't help feeling an emotional empathy with the family of someone who has died when you see the level of distress that some of them are suffering,'' he said.

``There are occasions when I think how easily it could have been somebody from my family, or a friend, or me, or anyone I know who is the person who has died.

``There are times I find I will wake up in the middle of the night thinking about a particular coronial inquiry, if the details are so graphic or the level of tragedy was so great that it has embedded itself in my system much deeper than I thought it would.

``You get to the stage where you can, and you have to be able to turn off and walk away from it at the end of the week.''

Mr Alsop said he coped with the emotional stresses of being a coroner by thinking of them as a ``learning experience'' for use in future inquests.

``Sometimes you get the feeling you might be able to do something constructive to stop a similar tragedy happening in the future,'' he said.

Mr Alsop said the role of his coronial registrars was also important in an inquiry as they are the ones who liase with the families of the victims and often prepared draft findings for an inquest.

``That requires an incredible level of understanding, compassion and emotional maturity,'' he said.

Latrobe Valley Court Complex coronial registrar, Kathryn Broughton, said having to deal with the ``emotional and physical hard work'' of an inquest was ``not easy''.

``With the work that we do the job satisfaction that we get is not at a high level,'' she said.

``Sometimes and not very often, we get some level of satisfaction, whether it be from some recommendations that are made when something is fixed, or to a phone call or a letter from a family member just to say thank you for the work that we do.''