Welding (Lung Hazards) (Hansard, 13 February 1956)

§ 2. Dr. Stross
asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how many cases of metal fume fever among welders have been brought to his notice; and whether he will schedule lung hazards due to welding as a prescribed disease.

§ Mr. Boyd-Carpenter
The answer to the first part of the Question is "None, Sir." As to the second, I am not aware of any lung hazards due to welding not already covered by the Act which would satisfy the statutory conditions for pre-cription.

§ Dr. Stross
If the Minister receives information and evidence that there is serious risk that some forms of welding do cause fibrosis of the lungs, will he consider taking action?

§ Mr. Boyd-Carpenter
As I think the hon. Member appreciates, if fibrosis of the lungs results from the process of welding, a claim can already be put in under the existing law in respect of pneumoconiosis. That is why in my answer I referred, perhaps obliquely, to the fact that risks which welders run are already covered in a number of directions.

§ 4. Dr. Stross
asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance whether he is aware of the industrial hazards that may be associated with the process of welding; and whether he will institute research into these hazards, and particularly into the composition of the electrode coatings.

§ Mr. Boyd-Carpenter
Yes, Sir. But as this matter is being given attention by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour and National Service's Factory Inspectorate, I do not think that I should at present be justified in duplicating the research work being done.

§ Dr. Stross
Will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that there are special hazards if the coatings of the electrodes contain metal such as cadmium, which may well be prescribed or has been pre-cribed lately, and in view of the specific dangers would he not at least try to get all the information possible for his Department?

§ Mr. Boyd-Carpenter
From the hon. Member's supplementary question, I think he appreciates that certain aspects of cadmium poisoning have been prescribed in accordance with the Answer I gave a few days ago. On the main issue, the matter is being very fully investigated by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour and National Service. The hon. Member will appreciate that it is difficult to draw a hard-and-fast line between research for the purposes of prevention and research for the purposes of prescription.