Channel Tunnel Construction: Accidents (Hansard, 14 June 1990)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Employment (Lord Strathclyde)
My Lords, provisional figures show that 502 accidents were reported to the Health and Safety Executive between April 1987 and March 1990. In 1989–90 that was equivalent to a rate of 4,468 per 100,000 employees. All fatal accidents and some other accidents are investigated by HSE inspectors to see what can be done to prevent any recurrence.

§ Lord Clinton-Davies
My Lords, are not those figures absolutely horrendous? Is there not an urgent need to dispel the anxiety on the part of the public that safety considerations are perhaps being sacrificed in order to achieve speed in the construction of the tunnel? How does the incidence of accidents on our side of the Channel compare with those on the French side?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, the accident figures are extremely regrettable and we obviously feel that they are too high. However, I cannot agree with the noble Lord when he said that it was due to cost-cutting. Everyone involved in the construction industry knows that an efficient site is a safe site and that goes, as far as possible, for the Channel Tunnel site. As for comparisons with the French sector, they are not entirely helpful because the French set different criteria for reporting accidents.

§ Baroness Turner of Camden
My Lords, is the Minister aware that trade unions representing workers on that project have complained about intimidation that their members face from management if they complain about standards of health and safety, with threats of losing their jobs if they pursue their complaints? Is that not quite unacceptable, and what do the Government intend to do about it?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, I was not aware of that and I am surprised that the noble Baroness should make that accusation through the unions because they are represented on a variety of safety committees There is full and regular consultation with members of the four unions represented on the site and, as I understand it, those consultations work effectively.

§ Lord Dean of Beswick
My Lords, is the Minister aware that a consultant's report on safety with regard to building contracts, issued before the project started, predicted that there was a probability of 24 deaths during the construction of the Channel Tunnel? Is it not rather sad that there should have been a death for every mile that has been built from 410 this side? With six deaths in six miles, is it not tragic that we have not been able to take steps to prove that consultant wrong?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, it is tragic, but let us also remember that that site is the largest construction site in Europe. It is one of the bravest kinds of construction sites that we have seen in recent years, beneath the Channel. It is not surprising that accidents should occur, even though it is very regrettable.

§ Baroness Turner of Camden
My Lords, reverting to the question that I asked earlier and with regard to the Minister's response, is he aware that I was speaking to a brief provided to me by the Trades Union Congress and that I am willing to provide him with the information? If I do so, will he take some steps to deal with the matter?

§ Lord Strathclyde
Yes, my Lords, but I must point out that I am advised that there is a well developed system of safety committees and employee safety representatives on the project, that trade unions are well represented among the workers and that the trade union safety representatives have forwarded no complaints to the Health and Safety Executive. However, if the noble Baroness has evidence to support her case, I shall of course be interested in seeing it.

§ Lord Kinnaird
My Lords, I do not suppose that my noble friend the Minister can tell us how many accidents took place during the building of the pyramids, but can he tell us how many occurred during the building of the Forth railway bridge?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, I am sure that that would be useful information, but I regret that I have no information on either of those two projects.

§ Lord Tordoff
My Lords, does not the Minister hope that safety standards have improved a little since those days?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, for once I am able to agree with the noble Lord.

The Viscount of Oxfuird
My Lords, on leaving school I was for two years an apprentice surveyor on the Rimutaka Tunnel in New Zealand, which was a railway tunnel going from the north of the Hutt Valley through to the hinterland beyond and it was driven through argalite and greywackey. Does my noble friend agree with me that the art of tunnelling is extremely dangerous and that one of the major problems associated with it is the unpredictability of the land through which one goes? Bore holes may have been made, but shale slants and various other factors can produce accidents at a moment's notice. Does he agree that it is an extremely difficult and dangerous exercise?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, that is a useful contribution from my noble friend, who has experience in such matters. Perhaps I may tell him that the contractors themselves are worried and 411 concerned about their safety record. However, we believe that their safety endeavours are commendable and we shall maintain close contact with them to ensure that the safety record improves.

§ Lord Stoddart of Swindon
My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that an accident rate of 4 per cent. is extremely high by any standards? Can he state any other industry or project which has an accident rate as high as that?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, this construction site is way above the average for the construction industry as a whole. That is partly due to under-reporting in the rest of the construction industry. I am not able to tell the noble Lord how it compares with other industries overall. In any case, I am not sure that that is strictly relevant.

§ Lord Stoddart of Swindon
My Lords, if there is under-reporting in other areas of the building industry, should not the contractors involved be prosecuted for breaking the law?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, we understand that there is a certain amount of under-reporting. When the contractors are caught out, the full weight of the law is brought to bear.

§ Lord Campbell of Alloway
My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister agree that the conditions under which that construction work is undertaken and the timetable and urgency involved give rise to a certain measure of anxiety for the safety of the workers? Would it be possible for him to take special consideration of their safety into account?

§ Lord Strathclyde
Yes, my Lords. To that effect, the Secretary of State has already met with the chief executive of the contractors' consortium to discuss the position of the safety of workers.

§ Lord Clinton-Davis
My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that the statistics relating to accidents at that site represent 4 per cent. of the workforce, compared with 1.8 per cent. in the construction industry as a whole, which is one of the most dangerous industries in the country? Is he further aware that the acceptance of the inevitability of accidents represented by a number of noble Lords in questioning him today is in itself unacceptable? What the House surely wants to know from him is what action the Government are prepared to take to reduce the incidence of accidents, and particularly whether they are prepared to set up an independent inquiry.

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, I am surprised that with his experience in those matters the noble Lord should use statistics so selectively. When we deal with statistics involving the construction industry, we include plumbers, carpenters and even decorators. When we deal with the Channel Tunnel, we deal with people who work deep underground under the sea, and that is obviously bound to be more dangerous.

§ Lord Clinton-Davis
My Lords, will the noble Lord indicate what action the Government are disposed to take?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, the HSE is working on the matter.