§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the number of factory inspectors in each Health and Safety Executive area office with less than two years' experience in the Health and Safety Executive on 1 April.
§ Mr. ForthThe total number of factory inspectors in each Health and Safety Executive area office with less than two years' experience in the Health and Safety Executive on 1 April is 146. The number in each area office as follows:
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Factory Inspectors Class II with less than two years in the Health and Safety Executive at 1 April 1991. Inspectors Bristol 4 Basingstoke 10 East Grinstead 7 Barking 9 London South 6 Chelmsford 5 Luton 5 Northampton 9 Birmingham 7 Cardiff 11 Newcastle-under-Lyme 9 Nottingham 8 Sheffield 6 Leeds 4 Manchester 7 Bootle 7 Preston 9 Newcastle-on-Tyne 8 Edinburgh 8 Glasgow 7 Total 146
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the number and grades of specialist staff currently employed in the offshore safety division and the number it is proposed to employ in 1992.
§ Mr. ForthThe information requested is as follows:
Grade Staff in post Grade 7 and above 10 Petroleum Specialist I 1 Petroleum Specialist II 4 Petroleum Specialist III 7 Petroleum Specialist IV 24 Reservoir Evaluation Specialist II 1 Reservoir Evaluation Specialist III 2 Reservoir Evaluation Specialist IV 1 Principal Inspector of Mines 1 Superintending Specialist Inspector 1 Factories Inspector 1A 2 Principal Agricultural Inspector 1 TOTAL 55 Detailed staffing targets are not yet available.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment for what reasons, and on which grades, the Health and Safety Executive imposed recruitment bans in 1990–91.
§ Mr. ForthThe Health and Safety Executive did not impose recruitment bans for any grades in 1990–91.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many unfilled professional/scientific posts existed at the Health and Safety Executive, Cricklewood laboratories as at 1 April.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many of the Health and Safety Executive's scientific staff at the Cricklewood laboratories had less than two years' experience on 1 April.
§ Mr. ForthThere were 20 Cricklewood scientific staff with less than two years' experience on 1 April.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total number of staff at the Health and Safety Executive's Cricklewood laboratory on 1 April and how many there were on 1 April 1989.
§ Mr. ForthThe Health and Safety Executive employed 87 staff at its Cricklewood laboratory on 1 April 1991. There were 91 staff at the same location on 1 April 1989.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many occupational hygienists are currently working specifically on gas safety at the Health and Safety Executive's Bootle headquarters; how many explosives inspectors are engaged on the same work; and how many staff days are allocated specifically to this work.
§ Mr. ForthThere is currently one occupational hygienist working specifically on gas safety at the Health and Safety Executive's Bootle headquarters; 60 staff days are allocated for this work. Explosives inspectors do not work on gas safety.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he intends to take to help relieve630W the Health and Safety Executive of the burden of inexperience mentioned by the Health and Safety Executive's director general in the 1989–90 annual report, caused by the high resignation rate of factory inspectors.
§ Mr. ForthIn meeting the Health and Safety Commission's public expenditure survey bids in full in recent years, the Government welcomed the Health and Safety Executive's intention to increase numbers of inspectors, including factory inspectors. The consequent increased recruitment effort by the HSE has led to increases in the numbers of inspectors since 1988 and, therefore, a larger number of inexperienced inspectors. As a result, the HSE is giving close attention to training arrangements for new recruits. The HSE's plans for further recruitment, training and retention are set out in the commission's plan of work for 1991–92 and beyond, to be published at the end of May.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what resource costs, both in terms of finance and staff years, were incurred by the Health and Safety Executive in the investigation of the(a) Cannon street, (b) Redbourne gas over-pressurisation, (c) Hillsborough, (d) Piper Alpha and (e) King's Cross accidents.
§ Mr. ForthComprehensive and precise information about the costs of the HSE's contributions to investigations of those accidents is not available. The estimates given relate to resource inputs from HSE's field operations and technology divisions and its research and laboratories division. They do not include the time of senior management or other associated work and are thus minimum estimates of technical resources directly applied. The HSE is not aware of any incident at Redbourne.
Identified investigation costs to the HSE are:
- Cannon Street— not available: investigation ongoing
- Hillsborough — approximately 6 staff years
- Piper Alpha — approximately 1 staff year
- Kings Cross — approximately 18 staff years.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the number of agricultural inspectors in each Health and Safety Executive area office with less than two years' experience in the Health and Safety Executive on 1 April.
§ Mr. ForthThe total number of agricultural inspectors in each Health and Safety Executive area office with less than two years' experience in the Health and Safety Executive on 1 April is 39. The number in each area office is as follows:
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Assistant agricultural inspectors with less than two years in the Health and Safety Executive at 1 April 1991 Assistant inspectors Bristol 4 Basingstoke 1 East Grinstead 3 Chelmsford 3 Luton 3 Northampton 2 Cardiff 2 Newcastle-under-Lyme 3 Nottingham 2 Sheffield 1 Leeds 4 Bootle 2 Preston 2 Newcastle-on-Tyne 3
Assistant inspectors Edinburgh 3 Glasgow 1 TOTAL 39
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the maximum number of trainee factory and agricultural inspectors it is possible for the Health and Safety Executive to recruit and train effectively each year.
§ Mr. ForthThe Health and Safety Executive estimates that it is possible to make arrangements for the effective training of a maximum of 90 newly recruited inspectors each year.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many staff years will be devoted in 1991 to preventive inspectors by the Health and Safety Executive's field operations divisions.
§ Mr. ForthThe information requested is not available in the form requested. In the period 1 April 1991 to 31 March 1992 the Health and Safety Executive's field operations division proposes to spend 383.9 staff years on planned preventive inspection.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the number of health and Safety Executive inspectors working on risk assessment of major hazards.
§ Mr. ForthThere are currently 18 Health and Safety Executive inspectors working on risk assessment of major hazards.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will state the number of vacancies for specialist staff that exist in the Health and Safety Executive's offshore safety division; and how many applications were received to the most recent recruitment advertisement.
§ Mr. ForthThere is no specific number of vacancies for specialist staff in offshore safety division available at present, as the reorganisation and structure of the offshore safety division is still under consideration. A total of 530 applications were received for the current recruitment competition for petroleum specialists.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many safety cases he estimates the Health and Safety Executive's offshore safety division will be required to undertake in 1991–92; how many specialist staff will be engaged on this work; and at what grade.
§ Mr. ForthAllowing for the necessary consultations, legislation requiring the submission of safety cases for offshore installations will not be made until 1992. Arrangements for assessing safety cases are currently being considered but it is too early to say how many staff will be engaged.