HC Deb 10 December 1925 vol 189 cc640-1
30. Mr. J. BAKER

asked the Home Secretary whether, seeing that in the Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1924 it is stated that only three out of 5,000 accidents in the heavy chemical trade were due to a breach of the Regulations, it is proposed to introduce further Regulations with a view to reducing the number of accidents in this trade?

Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKS

The 5,000 accidents referred to represent the total number of accidents reported from all classes of works in the Warrington district. Only 676 of these occurred in the chemical trade. The great majority of these 676 accidents appear to have been due to risks which are incidental to every class of industry and which, for the most part, are not preventable by Regulations, such as, for example, persons falling, or stepping on or knocking against objects, and so forth. So far as one can see at present, the only hopeful way of dealing with this class of accidents is through the establishment of safety organisations in the individual factories and the development generally of the Safety First movement. Everything possible will be done by the Factory Department to stimulate action in this direction.