§ 43. Mr. GILLasked the Home Secretary if he can state the number of trades in which conferences have been held between employers, operatives, and inspectors, as recommended by the Departmental Committee on Accidents; the number of conferences in each trade, separately; and the number of agreements arrived at?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe trades in which conferences have taken place, and the number of meetings held in each, are as follows: Cotton-spinning, eleven; cotton-weaving, four; woollen and worsted spinning and weaving, six; iron foundries, two; tin-plates manufacture, two; bleaching and dyeing, five or six; herring-curing, three. Agreements have been arrived at in each trade, and official reports setting out the agreements in the case of the four trades first named have already been published.
§ 44. Mr. GILLasked the Home Secretary if his attention has been called to the increase in the number of non-fatal accidents in factories in 1913, amounting to 1933 over 21,000; whether he can give any reason for such increase; and what steps be proposes to take to make such industrial occupations safer?
§ Mr. McKENNAI am aware of the figures referred to which are taken from the Preliminary Tables of Accident issued by my Department. As explained in the introduction, the figures for 1912 and 1913 are not altogether comparable, as those for 1912 were affected by the long coal strike in that year, but in so far as the increase is a real one, it is to be accounted for chiefly by the effects of expanding trade. The matter will be fully dealt with in the Chief Inspector's Report for 1913, which will be issued shortly. The hon. Member will not expect me on this occasion to give in detail all the measures by which it is hoped to reduce the number of preventable accidents, but action is being taken in numerous directions, on the lines approved in the Report of the Accidents Committee, by arranging, for example, for increased and closer inspection; by holding conferences with employers and operatives; by the issue of further Regulations, such as the important code which has just come into force for shipbuilding; by the publication of Reports as to fencing and other precautions; and by the establishment of an industrial museum and the exhibition of types of safety appliances at various centres.