§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Employment which of the
FATAL ACCIDENTS Coal mining Offshore mineral working Commercial nuclear power generation Deaths Incidents Deaths Deaths (1) (2) (3) 1970 … 91 .. 1 — 1971 … 72 .. 4 — 1972 … 64 .. 3 — 1973 … 80 53 3 1 1974 … 48 48 12 — 1975 … 64 60 10 — 1976 … 50 47 17 2 1977 … 40 40 11 — 1978 … 63 52 4 1 1979 (provisional) … 47 36 * — .. Not available. * Not yet available. (1) A fatal incident has been taken as an accident involving one or more deaths. (2) The number of fatal incidents is not available. (3) Each fatality was the result of one incident.
§ Mr. Beaumont-Darkasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many employees have been killed or injured while engaged in nuclear installations in each year from 1959 until the present.
§ Mr. MayhewI shall reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.
592Wtasks carried out by the Health and Safety Executive is classified as low priority; what tasks he expects the Health and Safety Executive not to carry out in the future following staff reductions; if he is satisfied that staff reductions in the Health and Safety Executive will not jeopardise essential work that it carries out; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MayhewI am informed by the chairman of the Health and Safety Commission that the allocation of resources to particular programmes in the light of the announced reductions is being reviewed. It is too soon to say what the outcome of this review will be.