§ 3. Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he is taking to expand and improve safety training in industry.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithI am again drawing to the attention of all industrial training boards that safety should be an important element in all job training.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerI welcome the fact that the hon. Gentleman is pursuing the initiative I took when I was holding his job, but is this good enough in view of the worsening accident rate and the fact that industrial accidents account for the loss of more days of production than do strikes?
§ Mr. Dudley SmithI always think it erroneous to seek to compare the number of strikes with the number of days lost as a result of accidents, because the two are not comparable. I know from what I have seen that the hon. Gentleman is very interested in this matter and did a great deal about it while in the Department. I do not think that we can be complacent and more efforts must be made, but it is significant that the Robens Committee is looking into the adequacy of safety training at all levels and, again, I think that this will help.