HC Deb 28 March 1991 vol 188 c557W
Mr. McNamara

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what were the fatal and serious accident rates of(a) waterways workers, (b) workers in the steel industry, (c) railway workers and (d) seamen in each of the last three years.

Mr. Forth

The available information is provided in the tables. Injury numbers in respect of waterways employees in Great Britain are available, but the employment data required for the calculation of injury incidence rates are not.

Incidence rates1 in respect of injuries to railway employees2 in Great Britain reported3 4 to HSC/E enforcing authorities and agencies
Fatal Major Over 3 day Total
1986–87 7.1 133.0 18,38.0 19,78.1
1987–88 12.2 162.1 17,74.0 1,948.4
1988–89 11.9 231.5 2,501.1 2,744.6

Incidence rates1 in respect of injuries to employees in the Great Britain metal manufacturing industry5 reported3 to HSC/E enforcing authorities and agencies
Fatal Major Over 3 day Total
1987–88 11.2 301.2 2,430.5 2,742.8
1988–89 6.0 384.5 2,552.9 2,943.4
1989–90 4.1 336.6 2,605.5 2,946.2

Incidence rates1 in respect of injuries to merchant seamen reported6 to the Department of Transport
7 Fatal Over 3 day Total
1987 158.8 2,241.9 2,400.7
1988 52.0 2,404.0 2,456.0
1989 27.6 2,291.3 2,318.9
1 Rate per 100,000 employees.
2 Railways defined by Standard Industrial Classification (revised 1980) (SIC80)—Class 71.
3 As reported under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurences Regulations, 1985 (RIDDOR) and collected on a financial year basis (years commencing I April).
4 Railway Inspectorate only able to provide data on injuries reported to them between April and December 1989 (9 months). Consequently, the calculation of the provisional 1989–90 annual injury incidence rate is not possible.
5 Steel industry injuries cannot be separately identified from those occurring in the metal manufacturing industry as a whole. Metal manufacturing is defined by SIC80—Class 22.
6 Injuries occurring on board, or on access equipment to, all vessels registered in the United Kingdom and as reported under the Merchant Shipping (Safety Officials and Reporting of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences) Regulations 1982 (SORADO) and Merchant Shipping (Accident Investigation) Regulations 1989 and collected on a calendar year basis. This legislation categorises all non-fatal injuries causing over 3 days absence from work as an "over 3 day" injury. Major injuries are not separately classified. Injuries to merchant seamen injured on-shore and therefore falling within the jurisdiction of the HSE, cannot be distinguished from those occurring to dockers and other workers in shore establishments.
7 The fatal injury incidence rate for 1987 includes the 38 deaths of crew members in the Herald of Free Enterprise Disaster.
8 Provisional.