§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give for Stoke-on-Trent the number of workers covered by health and safety legislation, the number of workplaces the Factory Inspectorate has a duty to inspect, the number of factory inspectors operational in Stoke-on-Trent and the number of workplace visits made in the last three years for which figures are available; and for each figure if he will give the percentage change since the preceding year.
§ Mr. GummerI regret that information is not available in the precise form requested. The number of workers employed in premises registered with Her Majesty's factory inspectorate in the city of Stoke-on-Trent is 86,489.
Her Majesty's factory inspectorate records indicate that in the Stoke-on-Trent area there are 2,899 workplaces in which they are responsible for the enforcement of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act. The total includes fixed premises and certain transient activities, for example, building operations and works of engineering construction.
The city of Stoke-on-Trent forms part of the Marches area of the Health and Safety Executive which encompasses the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Hereford and Worcester. Within this area there are at the present time 21 general inspectors plus the area director. In addition these inspectors can call on the services of a number of specialists based at the field consultant group in Birmingham.
Figures for the number of visits made to workplaces subject to the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act prior to 1981 are not readily available. Factory inspectorate records for the years 1981 and 1982 show that in the former 1,534 visits were paid and in the latter 1,655 visits. This represents an increase of 7.8 per cent. from 1981 to 1982.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many men and women have died from accidents at work in Stoke-on-Trent in the last three years for which figures are available; how many have suffered serious occupational injury; and if he will categorise the deaths and injuries according to industry.
§ Mr. GummerInformation for deaths in Stoke-on-Trent reported to Health and Safety Executive enforcing authorities resulting from work activities is given in the table for 1980–82. Similar information for serious occupational injuries in Stoke-on-Trent is not readily available and cannot be provided without disproportionate cost.
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Fatalities reported to house enforcing authorities* in Stoke-on-Trent†1980–82 1980 1981 1982 Agriculture — 2 1 Coal mining 3 1 1 Iron and steel (general) — 1 — Pottery — 1 — Abrasive and building materials etc. not elsewhere specified — — 1
1980 1981 1982 Construction 2 1 — * All enforcing authorities excluding Railways Inspectorate. † The area covered by the figures includes the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyme and other towns in the immediate area of Stoke. For coal mining, the figures cover a broader area—roughly 30–40 square miles around Stoke-on-Trent. ‡ The figures include fatalities to employees and others, including members of the public. AU deaths involved males. Information on deaths, and major injuries (as defined in the Notification of Accidents and Dangerous Occurences Regulations 1980), reported to local authorities is available for 1981 and 1982 only. For the Stoke-on-Trent district council and Newcastle-under-Lyme borough council, there were 13 major injuries reported in 1981, and 12 in 1982. There were no deaths reported. No breakdown for these figures by industry is available.